An ISOT in Grimdark
by mko95
Summary: In the year 2012 AD a magical accident on the Warhammer World changes the endless fighting forever. The Wasteland is ripped away through Spacetime and changes place with Earth s Germany. On both worlds, Earth and Warhammer, nothing will ever be the same.
1. Chapter 1

_"This was a dark age, a bloody age, an age of daemons and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and death, and of the world's ending. Amidst all of the fire, flame and fury it is a time, too, of mighty heroes, of bold deeds and great courage."_

_"And then the most unlikely new Player entered the world and changed the balance in unforeseen ways. Perceived by all parties known as an accident, modern Germany had been transported into this world. At first reluctant to join the dance, the Germans found that they had no chance but to be part of the new world."_

**Itza, Lustria, Warhammer World**

Lord Mazdamundi, greatest of all living Slann was pleased. The spell he was conjuring came along beautifully. Parts of the Lustrian coastline had to be redesigned. A strip along the western coast of the continent hindered the fishermen of his subjects rather itchingly, so after becoming aware of that problem, the Lord decided to solve it. Shaping whole continents was unproblematic for someone of his magical Power, but to do it perfect, that was an art applied. Which was the reason Mazdamundi for hours had solely concentrated on the spell he was weaving.

It would have taken him mere minutes to cast it, but since he wanted perfection, everything was arranged like it should be. The Lord could not know that his desire for a perfect spell execution would change the World forever in ways even he never imagined.

His concentration bundled on one thing, his spell, the Slann Lord did not recognize the Chaos Demon, which had slipped through all defences of Itza, until the creature was in striking distance. The Demon, tasked to kill one of those entities who kept the anti-Chaos seals around the Polar continents up, struck with all of his magic enhanced might. The Slann was far from being a pushover and while his magical senses warned him late, it was enough to throw up a shield which lessened the wound to a painful, but non-fatal hit. Mazdamundi´s counterattack sent the Demon back screaming to the Chaos realms, banished forever, but the collateral damage was done. With the Slann Lord's concentration shifted on a life and death struggle, his main spell, fed in addition from the ritual place Mazdamundi was in, went out of control. Even the Slann could not dispel or otherwise stop it, the Winds of Magic already resonating and amplifying the half cast spell into reality. Mutating it in ways not desired.

The magical energies ripped through the World and into the beyond. The feedback of the spell sent all Slann into a magical sleep. It would be centuries before they could awake again. Maybe it was divine intervention, a chaotic chance or a sign of the Old Ones, in reciprocity the Winds of Magic infused the Great Seals with such a Power, that no Chaos force would bring them down before the re-awakening of the Slann. But this positive was offset by the shockwaves spreading out, shaping and shaking the Warhammer World to it's core.

And one tendril ripping through Space-time would send the fates of the Warhammer World into a new direction. If it would be in favour of Chaos or in favour of the Races living there, only time could tell.

**Tower of Hoeth, Ulthuan, Warhammer World**

The most famous High Elf Lore master outside the Elven Lands awoke with a scream. What his Magesight showed him was unbelievable. The Winds were singing in concert, while spreading around in totally random fashion. Teclis had never heard of a magical disaster on that scale. He doubted that such an occurrence had ever taken place during the lifetime of Elvenkind.

But it was not his Land which would bear the brunt of this. No, across the Silent Sea and _how could it be any different_, Teclis thought, _the "Old World"_ _in the thick of events as well- once again!_

Two of his Adepts had come to the sleeping room of their Master, looking as shaken as he was. Projecting a front of calmness he did not feel, Teclis addressed the two. "Aurulia, Rafador, prepare our travelling supplies! I feel we will be needed in the Humans Old World very soon."

**Northern Hemisphere, Earth, Sol System**

Earth was on it´s usual rotation around the Sun, when controlless Qhaysh appeared out of Space-time, bathing most of the Northern Hemisphere in it. Unknown phenomenoms erupted out of "nowhere". And since it was a shaper spell in the beginning, the Winds of Magic shaped and changed Earth on their pass.

The whole thing was over in eight minutes. When it was over, bizarre changes had happened. Mountains where none had been, new woods, new deserts, new lakes, often existing landmarks were reshaped into new or exaggerated forms. But after having stomached the first shock, a second, greater one came after assessing all that happened. Had the Chaos Gods been looking out for Earth, they would have laughed like seldom before.

To the shock of all, where Germany had been mere hours before, now a muddy, swampy landscape, dotted with twisted flora and fauna, spread out. Some truly scared people were found by search teams, their clothes style from bygone days, talking in a dialect of Dutch.

With Germany, her over 81 million people and her industry gone, 2012 became "the year, the economy died", as an aged folk singer sang. The global economy already strained, the sudden disappearance of such an important market, economy and more, such a large producer of quality goods, let it crash down like stone.

It would be many years until Earth could recover from that loss and the new Geographic. But for Earth the question remained: Where was Germany?

**Outside the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany**

The people of Berlin, the people of Germany were staring into the sky, seeing and trying to comprehend the second Moon there. So nobody at first recognized that among the crowd outside the chancellery the German Chancellor herself was standing.

Angela Merkel was a Doctor of Physics, so this weird Light and it´s aftermath had sent her brain into overdrive. It had actually been a fairly normal morning in Germany, when at two minutes past eight a glazing, rainbow-hued light suddenly appeared. For further 4 minutes, messages from all across Europe, North America and Northern Asia came in about the same happening there. The alarms had already been rung, the government members called for an emergency meeting, the Bundeswehr on High Alert, when from one second to the other everything from outside Germany went silent.

Then, as suddenly it began, it was over. Not more than eight minutes, according to the nuclear clocks in Braunschweig. The institutions of Germany tried to reach all Germans via phone, Radio, TV and police acting as town criers. Everyone should go home, turn on TV and Radio and wait for a message by the Chancellor, which would be aired in a quarter of an hour. Then, a further one when more was known. But for now, it seemed the light did not damage anything big in Germany.

Angela Merkel had hit the right tone for her compatriots. Stating that Germany was not under attack and such an event was totally unprecedented. She asked the Germans to keep calm and that any news would be aired as soon as possible, but considering the bizarre circumstances, the Government needed some time to gather informations to get a clear picture. And that she would give a message with the newest informations in two hours.

After her speech, the chancellery and the meeting room of the government was flooded with totally weird messages. Roads across the borders simply vanished after the border lines, unknown vistas beyond Germany's frontiers.

An hour later, all government members needed a pause, too strange were the messages. Soon the infos from the fly-overs by the Luftwaffe would come in, until then, a pause was given. So Angela Merkel had gone to mix with the crowd outside. Her scientists brain was pondering the possible answers, none which pleased her, because while theoretically possible, it should not happen in reality.

Being the daughter of a pastor, she prayed silently. "Dear Lord in Heaven, where are we?"

**Luftwaffe Flight 31, flying over "somewhere"**

The cameras and sensors of the two Recon-Tornado Jets were recording, doing their work and the pilots, having flown more than 300 kilometres deep into the unknown at times, were now pulling their control sticks, bringing the planes onto a course for home.

During the first phase of this Recon, the three men and one woman in the Jets had been fully concentrated on their duties. They still concentrated on their jobs, but since there were no "Bandits", UFOs or any other kind of enemy flights opposing them, the pilots could talk a little.

Hauptmann (Captain) Gerd Troppmann, the flight leader, could not and did not want to hide the amazement he felt. "This all is totally far out! This cannot be France, Belgium or Switzerland below us. There is no way we could see a high mountain range from the position where Paris should be, if we were just ... displaced ... in time, like in a science fiction novel."

Oberleutnant Sybille Glaser, the sensor Officer of the other Tornado, affirmed that. "You are fully correct, Herr Hauptmann. Nothing ... no place we flew over corresponds to what should be there. And I am still weirded out by that Big River close to Aachen (Aix-en-Chapelle). A River mouth which easily can compete with the Amazonas Delta. A "time travel" for lack of a better reason, would have been back to the time of the Dinosaurs for that to be even remotely possible. But the settlements we saw and the size of them, limit a possible time displacement to 4000 years, tops.

So, we are on another world, if this is not one of the freakiest nightmares I ever had and will wake soon."

"What shall we do now?" spoke up her pilot.

Troppmann answered that. "We? We do our job, return to base and then... then we have time to freak out and hope for a solution of any kind."

**Castle Wegelsburg, Palatinate, Germany**

Michiko Furukawa rubbed her eyes for the fifth time in the last hour, then looked again. The rubbing had not helped, she still saw something she should not see here - again.

Several years earlier Michiko had met and married her German husband and left Japan to live with him. She worked as a translator and adult education centre teacher. Her husband and she had used a holiday to go on a hike in the Palatinate Forest. They began their hike early and by eight o´clock they had reached the Wegelsburg with it´s fantastic out view. The restorated Castle ruins stood on rather high altitude, nearly six hundred metres above sea level, with a great view not only over the Palatinate Forest, but the Vogesen mountains in France as well. The French border was just a short walk away from the Castle.

When the strange light hit, the pair took cover in the Castle until it was over. Returning outside, they looked around. On the German side, nothing had changed, everything as before, as much as could be seen from the Castle. But looking to the French side made both involuntary gasp. There were still some mountains, but some lower plains where none had been as well. And the kicker which sent the two into shock, were the four Japanese-style Castles they could see from their place on the Wegelsburg.

More than a hour had gone by with Michiko and her husband unsure what to do. Then a person looking distinctly like a Samurai of a bygone Age and his entourage of 4 other persons equally looking as coming from Old Japan, neared the Castle entrance.

As a born Japanese, Michiko could easily see that those 5 were projecting a defiant facade, but were as scared as she was.

Reaching a decision, Michiko said. "I go and talk to them"

"Do you think that is wise, Dear? You might be a 'known' face, calming them, but if they are what we think...I just want you safe."

Michiko pressed a fast kiss on her husband's mouth. "I know that you will defend me, but they are as scared as us. I might be able to keep this civil."

Then they just looked at each other and began to laugh. The whole situation was just too bizarre to think too deeply about, for now.

While Klaus secretly readied his Swiss Army Knife, just in case, Michiko walked up to the arriving people.

Tomoyuki Isamo, Samurai and Daimyo in service of the Emperor of Nippon, tried to keep all things straight. The whole situation was a bedlam. Just a short time before, he was patrolling his possessions close to the Silent Sea Shore, when the Winds of Magic played havoc with Nippon like never before.

Now there was no Shore line anywhere, he and his entourage were somewhere inland. Or better, his land was now fully inland! Seeing two people on the tower of a ruined foreign Castle, Tomoyuki decided to confront them, if they were simple victims like he was or responsible. If responsible, the wrath of a Samurai would be the last thing they would see.

He was happily surprised to see a Nipponese woman greeting them, but beside her stood a gaijin no kami, one of those very pale travellers and traders who sometimes visited Nippon.

"Hajimemashite! Watashi-tashi wa Furukawa Michiko to Klausu desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

_Interesting...a south western dialect here in this region. But that can wait for later. at least I can talk with somebody._

"Kochira koso! Watashi wa Isamo Daimyo desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

After the proper greeting ritual done, the talk began in earnest. Neither Michiko nor Tomoyuki knew that their talk would be one of those few things which kept the whole situation from spinning out of control early on.

**Chancellory, Berlin, Germany**

The chancellery resembled more an overcrowded concert hall than the central point of the German executive. Dozens of work groups analyzed data, while the rooms were acceptable, the floors were a cacophony of cell phones ringing, printers working and beeps from laptops, sprinkled in-between were people bringing food and drink to the assembled groups. In the central meeting room the German government stayed in emergency session now that the first news from the Recon teams came in.

It was a nightmare. All roads, walks, railways, pipelines simply cut off at the border lines and while a lot were thankfully sealed off by the "event", not all were. No radio, TV, Internet, telephone calls from outside Germany came in, the only positive was that 8 satellites were still in orbit and could be controlled. But beyond that no signal from the rest of Earth.

The landscape beyond the borders was totally unknown and it became "worse". For the last 30 minutes messages came in, saying that the Baltic Sea had vanished, while at the Benelux-border of North Rhine-Westphalia a very large and broad river was now flowing. Topping this off were the calls from the Palatinate and Baden that they now bordered on a piece of "Old Japan", whose inhabitants insisted that they never heard of a "Germany" and were "transplanted" as well.

This was enough to drive someone to drink! The various people in charge gave orders out while being put up with an literally endless stream of news.

"The THW and specialists are working on the pipelines, Herr Minister."

"We added a new part to the maps. These photos came from the Recon flights over the 'Baltic'. Damnation, that are quite a mass of trees for a ocean arm!"

"And so dry, Tim." "Funny!"

"Were is the chancellor? We have line standing to the Palatinate. This Daimyo Isamo guy could be convinced to try this 'magical contraption'. He is willing to listen to us -for now."

"Give me Ludwigshafen, Manfred. They have to power down what processes can be stopped and paused. And then you talk with Leverkusen."

"Thomas, how is the deployment of the rapid reaction forces going? They have to keep the eastern and southern borders controlled... No, first, the Rhine is still flowing and second, Angela is talking with someone of these peculiar Japanese guys down there... Yes, authorize a jet transfer for the diplomatic and combat engineering teams. If we can keep the lid on in the Southwest, this can only be helpfu- No, we still cannot say if everyone else is gone or we went somewhere else."

"No, tell this ox that this is a national emergency. Under what stone did he sleep? They have to keep the grid working..."

"I need the laptop with the H1 on it." "Here, Martina!" "Danke! Please, print this out, six copies. One for Angela, one for Wolfgang and Ursula, the other three for rotation. Oh, make another one for the Archive."

The time for the next chancellor´s message was nearing, when a state secretary walked into the government meeting room. He was as white as a wall.

"Mein Gott, Olaf, you look ill. What happened-"

"Sorry, Frau Bundeskanzlerin, I found out, I believe I found out where we are."

"Somehow, I doubt we will like it, right?" addressed Angela Merkel the secretary dryly.

"Oh ja! I cannot get my head around it, how it is possible, but..."

Wolfgang Schäuble, the interior minister, made a dismissing hand gesture. "Olaf, please tell us like taking medicine-fast- maybe it will be more palatable then, hopefully."

"Yes, Minister. We have put together the data our air and ground Recon teams gathered."

A beamer powered up and the state secretary connected his notebook with it. The picture shown was Germany.

"The good news first. We need it. The good news is that Germany is in one piece, so to speak, even Helgoland has called in, as did the Islands in the Baltic even if they are now part of some inland. ..." He nodded to a silent question.

"Oh Yes, it will become more strange, a lot more. It seems that all vacationers in other nations were transported as well. They suddenly found themselves in their homes again. No matter where they were before. Well, pardon I have to correct myself, as long as the persons where on the northern Hemisphere. From what I see on my newsfeed, some people who were in Australia are still missing.

And for some reason it seems that there are some handfuls of persons, who are foreigners and were outside Germany when this catastrophe began, who still were deposited with us here. This is something for the scientists, maybe they have a connection to Germany in some way.

"But back to the momentarily more important things."

He pushed a key on the notebook and the image of Germany changed, becoming embedded into some sort of land. Germany was coloured blue, with some red and white coloured "chunk", around the size of Hessen, sticking at Germany´s south-western borders. The rest of the landmass surrounding was in an off-white colour, while the sea and rivers were in a dark blue. Then Olaf added a second picture, a map, for comparison and it really looked similar, the only difference were Germany and this piece of Nippon in one picture like an overlay.

"I am absolutely sure I do not recognize this place. Where from did you get the map?"

"I am sorry if it sounds totally mad, but ... my son and my daughter are longtime fans of a tabletop game named Warhammer. They often tell and show me stuff about that game. When we created the map from the recon data, I directly saw the similarity to a map of that fictious game world. And no, I cannot fathom how we can be transported to a world that for all that is holy, should only be a product of imagination. And I cannot predict how similar the world and her nations might be to those depicted in the game books and novels.- I assure you it is not some sort of sick joke. I nearly blacked out when I saw the connection."

For a full minute the room was deathly silent, the persons in it contemplating something that should not be posssible. Then Angela Merkel, noticable more pale then usual, spoke up.

"Olaf, would you please send someone to gather some books about this 'Warhammer world' in a shop for us? We have to look up what -might- be identical to this first found. Maybe it will help us when we meet the rest of the world here.

We have to create work groups for the different nations. We have to get a grip, let us take it like a new country back home on ... Earth. And if someone has a really good idea how we can put this 'information' into my message to our compatriots without sounding like madman, I am open for suggestions."

**Royal****Palace, Couronne, Bretonnia**

"Sire, we have an urgent message from our border with the Wasteland. The Marienburg troops have gone somewhere or vanished. If you want, we can advance and take what should be under your benevolent rule instead of the greedy traders in Marienburg."

King Lioncour of Bretonnia read the parchment one of his advisors brought in. "Didier, is this proofed?"

"Yes, my Lord, our border posts think the Marienburgers became fearful of the strange Dragon in the Sky they saw shortly after the mercenaries fled."

"A strange Dragon?"

"Yes, Sire. He flew high above and was unusually loud and fast, from what the couriers told me."

"Could this be the Dragon from the prophecy the Lady gave me? The dragon I will bring down?"

"I thought about that as well, when I heard the news, your Highness."

"Didier, alert the closest Dukes and knights. It seems the time for bringing part of the Wasteland under the warming rays of civilisation is nigh. For Bretonnia and the Lady!"

"For Bretonnia and the Lady!"

**"Regensburg", Europe, Earth**

Rain was pouring down, making the swampy ground even more an unsightly molass. The trees looked healthy, but gave off some twisted vibe. Jaroslaw Permisyl leaned against their green Mercedes G, together with Jaap Brunkje, a geography professor from Leiden in the Netherlands. The two were part of one of the international research teams trying to find out what happened to or with Germany.

It was mind boggling. According to the GPS and the old-fashioned land navigation done by the professor as proofing, their team of 8 in 4 Off-Roaders stood where the oldest marketplace in Regensburg should be. Yet, there was only mud and some vegetation here and there. The Pole and the Dutch watched the geologists taking probes.

"Prof, what do you think what happened here? This is really creepy, are they all dead?"

"I know the rumours in the newspapers, but let me tell you, I doubt that the Germans died. Everywhere on the northern hemisphere the changes did just happen like here. Structures did not vanish, no matter how strong the changes were. So if nothing is standing here, even no ruins, Germany has to be somewhere else. Most colleagues and I think that Germany was transported to another world and where we now stand, was part of that other world. This is why the geologists and biologists are swarming all over the place."

"You mean we, Earth, was attacked by some aliens?" Jaroslaw's tone carrying over his scepsis.

"No, if some race or entity is powerful enough to do something like 'the Event', an attack would have taken us out. No question. We think a total disaster happened there, where ever that might be in the universe. Earth and Germany in special were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You want a tea? I need something to warm me up."

"Yes, Jaap, thank you. Can I ask you a question? All nations are hush-hush about waht happened to them and I know you have information we grunts do not get. Tell me, how bad is it? The consequences of Germany gone poof will be bad enough, but why do we hear so few things about the other changes? What is hidden?"

Jaap Brunkje was rummaging in the Mercedes and began to answer Jaroslaw´s questions under four eyes, when a cry let the two men turn their heads. Jaroslaw being outside the car did not get more out than Holy mother o-


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi, thank you for the reviews! There is much more to come. _

**Main****Tower of the Celestial Order, Altdorf, The Empire**

"August, I need an audience with the Emperor. It is urgent and of high importance for our nation, so as soon as possible is a must. I had a vision about that strange occurance in the morning. The result might be needed help or an enemy we never faced before."

"As you wish, Grandmaster."

**Naval Base "Tirpitzhafen", Kiel, Germany**

Captain Fritz Wunderlich (loose relation to the famous Tenor) stood on the bridge wing of his minesweeper _Fulda_, eyes turned to land. The Fulda was the last ship of the Bundesmarine to leave the Base making for Holtenau and the entry locks of the Kiel Channel. Only a handful of Fast attack craft would remain in Kiel.

During the "Teleport", as the event was tentatively named, Germany´s Baltic coast lost it´s sea and was now landlocked. All remaining water areas, like the Kiel Fjord or the waters around Rügen were Lakes now. Germany´s North Sea coast was still lying at a, now new, Ocean. So Kiel lucked out a bit since with the Kiel Channel the city had still a connection to the High Seas. Rostock on the other hand, was hit hard. In Warnemünde now the water ended. The ships in Rostock, a flotilla of Fast Attack Craft of the Marine included, were caught there in a water area of only some few square-miles.

**Frigate "Sachsen", near Wilhelmshaven, Germany**

At the same time Captain Wunderlich did a silent Good-Bye to Kiel, the Commander of the Sachsen, Captain Krug let his eyes sweep over the ships in his task force. Their orders were of immense importance for Germany. Sail to Araby with expert teams to search for oil.

**Chancellory, Berlin, Germany**

The first three days after Germany was swept to another world had been spent in disbelief by most of the population. It was simply such an outrageous event to defy reason. How could a fictious universe really exist?

After Angela Merkel had informed her compatriots, a run on books about the Warhammer universe set it. It were the 2 highest sale days for Games Workshop ever. Unfortunately for them, they would never get all that money made.

Despite the political parties still having different opinions, a "round table" due to the emergency was made. Any idea could help in a situation where Demons could exist.

"We need to speak with the Empire and Bretonnia first. They are the only human realms strong enough to be a danger."

"Yes, we will do it, but I´ll fly to Kagoshima in the afternoon to speak with this Daimyo Isamo eye to eye. They are stranded here like us. Are the geographic teams on board of out task forces? We have to see what is now different here. The Nipponese insist that the Winds of Magic hit not only Earth, but this world as well. Quite logical, since they were in the _Silent Ocean_ before this all happened."

"Yes, the tea-"

A worker of the Kanzleramt stormed into the meeting. "Frau Bundeskanzlerin, the Sea is returning in several regions of the Baltic ... _Krallensee_. The Fjords of Flensburg and Kiel, Rostock and Rügen, some Islands before Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are sea areas again. It started an hour ago like a tide. But in Ostholstein and north-western Mecklenburg the new coast line is stable. So Neustadt, Lübeck and Wismar, to name some of the important cities there, will never be true port cities again."

"Why now?"

"The specialists say that this is because of the Seas were disrupted by the event that brought us here and the changes on this world as well. Now the Sea levels out again."

"Well, then we can recall the ships to Kiel. I am glad for that, since it would have been a major negative impact on Kiel being without maritime trade and cruises."

"You are right on that, Wolfgang. Still, is it true we have 'swallowed' a piece of both Bretonnia and the Empire with our arrival? I looked at the maps myself and I fear that is correct."

"According to our geographs, this is correct, Angela. While the Territory the Empire lost is not important for them and I hope their merchants will be delighted to use our roads to reach the Old Forrest Road now, we cannot be so sure about the losses Bretonnia had.

They want to expand into the Wastelands and now most of these Wastelands are gone. I do not know how they will react once they find out we are where quite a piece of the ...where is it... ah, the Couronne Marches once lay."

"We must prepare the diplomatic team we gathered for Bretonnia for this complication. I hope to be back from 'Nippon 2' before either the Empire or Bretonnia come knocking. Maybe being thrown back into a slower moving Age works out as an advantage here in this case."

"That would be good, considering the mountain of problems we have. Have a Good Flight!"

**"Stolz von Wurtbad", on the Reik, Wasteland**

Pieter Schlittenholzer led his trade Barque for 3 decades. He knew the Reik River, the Sea of Claws and several routes into the South like the back of his hand. So he was, as were the well-travelled among his crew, totally baffled when the _Stolz_ encountered a fork in the Reik where none should be.

"Those damn Chaos-spawn. What happened here?"

The route he knew went to the right, but where to led the turn left? Better be save than sorry, Schlittenholzer thought. "Hans, we stay on the correct course. This turn left reeks of a trap!"

"Aye, Käpten!"

When 2 hours later the Barque entered a Lake which had never been there before and the ship was greeted by ships and boats of unknown origin, flying a Black-Red-Gold banner, Pieter simply swore. "Oh Frak!"

**Over Bayrischzell, Bavaria, Germany**

It was a sight for Emperor Karl-Franz and his fellow Griffon-riders, the land below them. After braving high mountains which definitely should not be here, they looked down onto a landscape that emanated tranquility and strangeness.

Karl-Franz locked eyes with the Grandmaster of the Celestial Order, nodding. It was as it had been in the vision the Grandmaster told him about.

"Do you know...have you seen where their capital is? Or what language they speak?"

"No, my Emperor!"

**Army Air Base Laupheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany**

"Herr Oberst, we have orders to intercept some Bandits near Bayrischzell."

"Hmm, we? That is the job of the Alarmrotte (Alert Flight) in Neuburg! Ugh, considering what will be the typical air unit speed here, we can only talk or sign to them with a Heli, right? Okay, boys and girls, let us show the Flyboys how it is done!"

_Hopefully this Reikspiel language is really as close to German as assumed in that informations we got. Or it will go down south real fast, if these guys are as triggerhappy as in the books._

**Bayrischzell, Bavaria, Germany**

Oberst Kurt Crüwell kept his eyes pinned to the sight in front of their helicopters, as were his comrades, the commander of Flight 42 was sure. _This will be a story for my Grandchildren! Real, living Griffons with their riders and we are the first to meet them!_

"They outnumber us with their 32 Griffons. But I hope to get this over without a fight. Activate the external speakers!"

"What by Sigmar are these contraptions?! Ready your weapons! Patriarch Julevno, Grand Astromancer Vybor, did you foresee these abominations?"

"Not these in special Sire, but others and they are no abominations per se, your Highness, even if they seem like Chaos-Spawn." answered Caspar Vybor, one of the most talented non-Elven farseers in existence.

The Emperor was a forward-thinking man, but the flying objects coming nearer looked more like something the forces of Chaos would make than human. Caspar admitted to himself that without the visions he and the Patriarch had shared, they would have thought that as well. "Your Majesty, the humans over there in these things can be a salvation for our realm or the worst enemy we ever faced.. Every action enables a reaction. I would advice, to keep sharp, but let them make the first move."

"They seem as anxious as we are, are they not, Karl? Better to get over with it. Turn to our broadside, so I can see and motion to these Imperials. Put me on the speakers."

"Milord," said Walter von Au, one of the Emperor´s Guards, "look...their heraldry!"

Karl-Franz, the two wizards and all the others who heard him, looked at the unknown flying machine. On the side, a Cross could be seen. Not the Cross of the Empire of Mankind, but it was close in design. Close enough to maybe being related.

While not relaxing, this let some of the felt tenseness out. And more tension left, when the people in the machine began to speak in an admittedly odd accented, but still good understandable Reikspiel.

"Unknown Flight, I am Colonel Kurt Crüwell and greet you in the name of the Federal Republic of Germany in Peace. For the ease of communication, how about we land in Bayrischzell below us and talk eye to eye? I think we both have a lot to talk about."

When the Griffons one by one and in formation began to descent, the Colonel let out the breath he did not knew he had held. "So far, so good! Contact Berlin that we have made successful contact with a squadron from the Empire. We will open first communication, but they should send the diplomats fast."

**Emden****Harbour, Lower Saxony, Germany**

"Rations, Hamit?"

"6 Weeks, Muhar. Do you know how difficult it was to gather the fuel? Since no one knows how soon new oil fields can be found, all these infidels are sitting on the last oil like hens. Hoping for it to multiply, I guess."

Snickers could be heard on the boat. "By the way, how did you get the fuel under these circumstances?"

"There are, Him be blessed, enough true followers of Islam in this heathen land. They donated from their stockpiles."

"Allah is with us! Omar, just stay clear of the Marine vessels. Before they will know it the true faith will have a foothold among our relatives in _Araby_. And then, then we will spread out and eradicate the followers of the false idols, beginning here. This World will be the haven of Islam. The prophet spoke to us about this sign. Let us leave and Allah ackbar! When we return, we will put away with the heresy here."

**Castle Isamo, Kagoshima, ****_Nippon_**

Night was falling over the Old World. The talks between Chancellor Merkel and the Daimyos beside Tomoyuki Isamo were proceeding well. A lot of business, common help and other things had already been concluded.

After retiring for the night, Angela Merkel and her advisors talked about the coming negotiations.

"Frau Kanzlerin, I know why we try to get them on our side. Security and all that. But why do this, they are not even the Japanese we know, these are the _old Ones_ clearly? We will grow our own future concurrent."

"The _Nipponese_ have the potential like their relatives from Home and this is exactly why Germany should be their Meji! This does not only include making them friendly towards us, build up this land, but I and some from the security council propose to make them a part of Germany, bringing them to join us."

"J-Join us?"

"Join us. Not only for defence reasons, a new market and all that. This is good, but we should add them to our numbers because they know this world more than we do and to bring millions of supportive of the state new citizens into Germany as well.

We have reason to believe that dogmatic among the Greens see this cataclysmic event as their Chance to impose their half-brained ideas on us. Some others as well. If only one tenth of what in the books is true, we need all the help we can get. We need to screen our people for magical talent, we need people who know this world, know what we need in the face of demons, how to use magic...

This is why we need to get this lost part of Nippon into Germany and to hopefully ally with this Empire and most of her factions. And why we should try that with more realms too. Some seem to have not recognized how dangerous this world can be. We will sooner or later have to talk about enlarging the Bundespolizei and raise a Landwehr. Or building city walls again. The rules have changed and it will be a hard way to get the whole population to realise this."

"Angela, Berlin in the line. A group from the Empire did fly into Bavaria with their Griffons and after the first small get-together it is clear that their Emperor is among them. You have to return as fast as possible."

**Elysee****Palace, Paris, France**

Presidential Advisor Jules Picard sat in his office chair, eyes pinned to the monitor before him, the Cafe au lait beside him forgotten. The messages were grim. With Germany transported to somewhere, and her return highly unlikely, the Euro was dead as a Dodo. The remaining Eurozone nations trying to save what could, the currency fell like lead and several EU nations declared a return to their pre-Euro currencies.

But that could not stop the shockwave in the World Economy. Germany was a too important part of that. The country was gone for a mere week and already more than a dozen nations from around the Globe had defaulted, with every day the danger of further defaults becoming greater.

Even the so strongly looking People´s Republic of China now wobbled on her feet.

_Germany__had not only been one of their greatest trade partners, but the producer of a lot of their machines as well._

Jules was no economist, but one had not to be one to see the writing on the wall. In the first two days after Germany had disappeared, from some nations there had be gloating and boasting how good it was that "this economic shark" was gone.

_This soon changed, when even among the idiots with axes to grind, it hit home how far above her Weight class Germany was able to punch, compared to Germany´s size. The World has precious few manufacturing centres of such calibre and with the equivalent of 2-3 silenced... Germany was most likely gone forever and the damages to industry and infrastructure incurred by the "Event" in the other industrial nations on the northern Half-Sphere was estimated to be like losing Germany once or twice again. France had been lucky, most of her industry was intact, only a small mountain range popping up in the middle of la Republique, severing northern France from the South for now, had done damage. Our specialists are working on connecting the roads and railways again, which, as far as the reports go, is not too problematic. Off-Road vehicles can cross the new mountains, so the experts think in a year all is back to "normal"._

_Something that can not be said about others. Where America´s largest chemical factory once stood, there was a lake now, the plant gone._

_If the civilian populations of Earth would know how hard our planet is hit, there would be a panic._

Picard looked on some paper reports and several on his computer.

_The idea to take over the region were la Allemagne stood, is as dead for now as the explorer teams. The few survivors scarred by the events. Abominations, which by God should not exist, live there. Poland ,I know, toyed with taking over most of "eastern Germany". We wanted to take at least everything up to the Rhine, Denmark a lot of northern Germany, all neighbours wanted a piece._

_Before we have cleaned out this wasteland, nothing to that effect is possible. According to these Dutch freaks we found, there should be a large metropolis in there, but no exploration team went in deep enough and for some reason the satellites cannot penetrate the clouds._

Jules Picard asked the empty room, "What shall I tell the President? That we are lucky? At least compared with others? I will tell him that France has to be ready when the general population get´s wind of the fact that a global depression which makes 1929/30 look like a Sunday walk, seems to be unstoppable.

**Landstuhl Stadthalle (City Multifunction Hall), the Palatinate, Germany**

Being the location of the largest US-Hospital outside the United States, the small city and her inhabitants were used to people from abroad. Seeing foreigners was normal, even if there were less Americans than before "the Weltensprung"(Jump between Worlds), as a scientist dubbed the event for the Bild newspaper. A name that would keep sticking.

The Germans could not know it where, but nearly four fifth of the US soldiers and their families were deposited by the spell back at their homes in the States. Germany´s scientists were baffled by this. Since a group of people from all over the northern hemisphere with German roots had been "sucked" away with their ancestor´s home, the leading theory was that something had resonated with the ancestry. While there were enough hints to consider that theory correct, Landstuhl was one of the places you could see the exceptions.

In case of Candace, a "medium" black teacher from an Army school, one could debate if she had some drops of German blood in her, but some of the children under her tutelage most certainly had not. Still, they had been transported away with Germany, while obvious German-descended US citizens were not.

In addition, among the before mentioned group of people who made the Weltensprung with Germany, there were a small subset of clearly non-German men and women. And from the immigrants in Germany, a part of them had been left on Earth or where ever they went to, despite having already German passports.

This led another group of scientists to posit that it was not ancestry, as the first few days of findings hinted at, but the overall number of people which had been balanced by whoever or whatever initiated the Weltensprung.

It was surely possible that at first a resonance picked Germanic people, but the randomness from where all the new people came might mean that when "time ran out" just the total numbers counted. Or all was just coincidence.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble had read the various reports about the possible explanations for the Weltensprung on his trip to Landstuhl. He wanted to tell the naturally rattled "newcomers" something uplifting, but the texts made him snort. At the moment the theories boiled down to an educated guesswork, with hints for practically all major theories. And no hope for a return scenario, not that he had even remotely calculated with this to be possible.

To show the people stranded together with Germany on a World which should not exist that Berlin cared for them as well, representatives had been invited to Landstuhl. Most of the US citizens left lived in the Kaiserlautern region, which Landstuhl was part of.

The reason Landstuhl had been chosen over the 10 times larger nearby Kaiserlautern laid in the fact, that Berlin wanted to show that all of Germany was needed and the city was still large enough to house all of the representatives.

Now the minister´s group was standing in the hallway leading to the stage. The Minister finally decided to make a stand-up speech, "Sandra, you have the laptop set up and ready?"

A nod by the addressed staff member.

"Sascha, are the hand-outs and paperwork formularies in there? ... Good, then let´s get it going!" With that, Schäuble pushed his wheelchair forward.

**Outside Couronne, Bretonnia**

The citizens of the capital of Bretonnia were out in force to give a proper frame for the army the King had assembled. It was not the largest army Bretonnia ever committed, not even the largest in the last half-century, but bolstering the Knights of Couronne, Artois, L´Anguille and Gisoreux was a relatively massive peasant's levy.

That the Knights were from only four regions of Bretonnia was seen as unproblematic, since the defenders of the Wastelands, the Money-sacks from Marienburg had fled in great haste and according to the newest reports, did not come back. Maybe now the greedy Marienburgers would see why a true knight was superior to the mercenaries they contracted.

The target was easy and simple: Taking as much of the Wasteland on the western side of the Reik as possible.

Despite having a fitting name, the Wasteland had some worth. Not every square-metre was infertile and winning control over the Wasteland would mean winning control over the Reik and with the Reik, over a lot of Empire trade. Marienburg, the former imperial capital of the former province of Westerland, was a rich city and one of the biggest trade cities in the whole world.

The King of Bretonnia, his advisors and a group of the most influential Knights did not believe in a march on Marienburg directly. Just taking the western part of the Wasteland and testing the defences of Marienburg after bringing the surrounding land firmly into Bretonnian hands.

"Are we not a bit too cautious, Sire? In sight of the cowardice of the Marienburgers?"

"Dear Comte de Charville, if it were just a question, of killing that Dragon, from which we do not know if he is still in the region at all, we would strike trough until we reach the centre of Marienburg. But we have to be careful of a trap and this is one of the reasons why Baron de Brosioux with a detachment will investigate the strange silence of some coastal towns along Manaanspoort Sea."

"You surely mean not that the moneygrabbers could be cocky enough to... I beg your pardon, your Majesty, but that thought alone is preposterous!"

"Sire de Charville, reign in your tongue. You talk to our King!"

"No, let him speak! I would not be a true grail knight and King, if I dismiss the right of other noble warriors to speak."

"This is simply a breakdown in communications as it happens not so seldom in the Couronne Marches, there is no way the Merchants of the Wasteland would attack us, your highness."

"Possible and most likely, but not the only scenario, Comte. That is why we send out a someone to investigate, while we go on and conquer the Wasteland. Let us get forward!"

**Markus Ruhdorfer´s Hotel Room, Berlin, Germany**

Depending on one´s view, it was very late at night or very early in the morning, when Markus Ruhdorfer locked the door to his hotel room. He yawned heartily, making his way to the bed, for a few short hours of rest.

The last three weeks of his life had been a rollercoaster. Before the Weltensprung, the late thirties man had been one of the millions of average citizens. After the event, Markus was one of the Warhammer fans who had pledged his help for the government. Unlike many of the teenaged Warhammer crowd, he was permanently chosen for the special division of the interior and foreign ministries because Markus did not only know about the Warhammer World, but had read List, von Clausewitz, Weber among other works helpful for a person working in the government.

Helping as well was that Markus coincidently learned Japanese in one of the courses given by Michiko Furukawa, who had had the first contact with the piece of Nippon now sitting at the border. So both now worked for the German government.

The second and most of the third week after Germany´s arrival Mark had spent in the piece of Nippon transported. It had functioned rather well. The staff of Germany´s embassy in Tokyo had "travelled" to the Warhammer World like all Germans on the northern Hemisphere, so full-blooded diplomats had been available, them being reinforced by the motley crew of other departments, Japanese living in Germany and part of the Warhammer fans working for Berlin.

The Warhammer "experts" were there not only to help the German delegation with the few info available about Warhammer Nippon and collecting more, but to brief these Nipponese Newcomers to the Old World about their new Home as well.

There was a subtle difference between the Nipponese and the Japanese, but that was something to be expected on the development level discrepancy. The German delegation was actually happy with every, even minor, difference to the Japanese and Japanese-descended among their ranks.

Even if one put aside the fact for a moment, that the world they stood on should be imagination, there was something seriously creepy in the resemblance of Earth and the Warhammer World for the scientists in the team. Even a parallel evolution of two worlds would not bring about languages so closely related to each other like here was the case. And the cultural differences, while there, were mostly superficial and coming from two historical Eras, as could be said about both the Imperials and the Nipponese.

This was simply impossible. Even on Earth Humanity had developed very different in different places. While it was still untested, several biologists in the delegation and Germany proper were sure that if one took DNA samples from the locals, they would show a relation between Earth and Warhammer Humans. They postulated, that Germany now was not the first victim, that some Power or Being in former times already had kidnapped people from Earth and transplanted them onto the Warhammer World.

Some radical researchers even believed that Games Workshop was a front for that Power, a beacon in Space-time.

But that was for further research. The first long meeting with the Nipponese had begun with mistrust, quite naturally considering this World, but with time first successes with the opening of trade relations and exchange of experts.

In four days, the German delegation would return to Kagoshima for further talks. _Tomorrow we have a day for recreation, then the preparations for the next 2 weeks in Nippon begin. What a schedule!_ were Mark Ruhdorfer' s last thoughts before succumbing to a well earned sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hi out there! Most wishes for a specific tale will be met sooner or later._

**_near Hof, Franconia, Germany_**__

_"Say NO to animal murder!"_

_"You are nothing but cowards!"_

_"Shit government! Shit Police! Start the Ecological Revolution now!"_

_"Down with the Nazis!"_

_"This World is pristine, keep it that way!"_

_Claudia Roth, one of the leaders of the Green Party, was very pleased. Despite the short time, the Greens and the Linke (Left Party) had amassed quite a demonstration group.  
>During the first tentative meeting of Merkel and the Emperor in Bayrischzell, one of these "wizards" of the Imperials, clad in a bluish, star-splattered robe, made an announcement. That soon a clan of Beastmen and other Mutants, topped of by members of true "Chaos-spawn" would cross the border into Germany. The only way to stop them spread their taint was to kill everything that moved in that area, preferably by fire, but being killed they had to.<em>

_The following discussion in the Bundestag was heated to say it mildly. While the government defended the transport of Bundeswehr units into the area the Imperial wizard had designated, the opposition, especially the Greens and the Linke, attacked that decision as rash and fascistic._

_The Merkel government pointed at the fact, that the Empire gave this information as a gift, the Warhammer experts said that Chaos taint was not something to be taken lightly and the interior minister said that any coming persons showing goodwill would be handled with civility. But that was not enough for the opposition. While from the Social Democrats only the left rim of the party was displeased, Greens and Left called on their followers.  
>And then the day came when on a forest glade, some kilometers from Hof, soldiers and several hundred demonstrators, among them quite some prominent members of Greens and Left and militant Autonoms, stood against each other.<br>The Bundeswehr had orders to keep calm and stay ready for anything, but let the demonstrators have their "party".  
>Speeches were made, most against the government, murder of innocents,...<br>All in all a rather perfect propaganda for their agendas, was the unanimous opinion of the political leaders at the rally. Angela Merkel would be humiliated and at the end, when Roth and Cem Özdemir would greet the newcomers and show everybody what bigot and hate-filled policies Merkel wanted to begin.  
>"And the TV teams film everything, this is just great!"<em>

_It was roughly 20 minutes later than the imperial wizard had estimated, when the first of these "Beastmen" arrived on the clearing. And to be honest, Claudia Roth began to have second thoughts about the rally´s conclusion, when all could see who or what arrived._

_One Thing had far too many eyes, a tentacle arm, andand... it looked like having jumped out of a warped nightmare. Or there was a person looking for all things like a walking piece of manure and smelling like it! Most of the newcomers had strange smells, a cacophony of odours._

_The crowd of demonstrators began to get second thoughts as well, but kept staying albeit barely. Cem Özdemir wanted to get over with it, take the propaganda coup for the Greens, bring the Beastmen into quarantine, off camera naturally, and take a hot, long shower.  
>So Roth and Özdemir walked up to two of these persons, their obvious leaders, one of them "Manure Man" and greeted them. From the corner of her eye Claudia Roth saw two Left members greeting further Mutants.<br>"Welcome to Germany! I am Claudia Roth and I can assure you, here no superstitious beliefs will harm you!"  
>She felt sick just from being around that guy, who simply said.<em>

_"Wonderful! I greet you in the name of Papa Nurgle!"_

_Then he shook her hand and something felt different. Claudia Roth began to scream as she saw her hand and arm change form into a putrid mess, but she felt nothing more than a little tickle. Others screamed as well, as the Mutants dove into the demonstrators, killing or infecting them._

_Cem Özdemir wondered why he felt not more than a small itch at seeing this happening, while he was growing an eye on his knee and Claudia beside him was turning into a facsimile of the Manure Man._

_Claudia Roth could not really believe this happened and said to Özdemir, "Cem, we need to get away..."_

_That were her last words, because at that moment machinegun bullets dissected her. She was already dead, when the fire of flamethrowers reached her body._

_It was, according to the reporters of the ARD-Team at the clearing, 17.13 hours, as a new chapter of history was begun. No matter how bizarre the circumstances had been the first days already, seeing this finally drove the seriousness of the situation Germany was in home._

_General Volker Wieker became one of the most discussed commanders in German History that day when he ordered fire to be opened on every being in the clearing. MG 3 machineguns, the successors of the famous MG 42, sent their ammunition into the crowd with the typical "linen-tearing" sound of machineguns of that type. Like the MG 42, the MG 3 would soon have a nickname, the Mutantensäge, the Mutants Saw.  
>Then, the brought flamethrowers opened up. After incinerating everything and everyone in the glade, the soldiers spread out, burning away everything in the direction the Mutants had come from.<em>

_The shock of that day sat deep, but beside a tiny minority, which continued to make trouble, the vast majority of the population saw the reason why General Wieker had been so merciless. This was an enemy you could not reason with._

_**near Illkirch-Grafenstaden, Alsace, France**___

_Captain Jean-Michel Arofoux sat in the open cupola of his LeClerc Tank. His unit had been ordered to investigate the silence in Illkirch. After the Earth-rocking "Event", communications and travel had been and still were seriously hampered on the complete Northern Hemisphere. So for some days nobody recognized that from the Alsatian town no life-sign came out.  
>Paris was obviously worried about this development and had sent a military unit to explore the situation on site. After the explorer teams into "Germany" had been attacked, the fact that Illkirch was positioned directly on the former border to Germany, let ill theories grow.<em>

_Before the tanks the Vogesen mountains gave way to the Rhine valley and Arofuox heard shocked exclamations in his headset. He himself was in a similar state to his men. All had heard about Germany vanishing, but seeing it was different. Strasburg was still there, but Kehl or Lahr on the German bank of the Rhine ... the Rhine!  
>Jean-Michel pressed the field glasses to his eyes with the air of a person hoping to be proven wrong.<br>Merde, Merde, this is, this cannot be right! The Rhine is gone!_

_Where the River should be there was now land, a marsh landscape._

_"No wonder the Strasburgers are totally freaked out... I get a bad feeling about this."_

_"Mon Capitaine?" came his gunner´s voice over the headset._

_"Nothing, Yves, I just remembered that the German 291st Chasseurs (291. Jägerbatallion) is stationed in Illkirch, as part of the French-German Brigade. And Germany vanished! Now what could have happened to a city on former German territory, directly at the borderline and with a lot of Germans there, I ask?"_

_"Mon Dieu! You mean, but that is..."_

_"Impossible? I cannot believe it either, but we have all seen the pictures on TV and the unbelievable power of that event directly before our eyes with the Rhine simply missing. I hope it will all boil down to the breakdowns in travel and communication, but I fear Illkirch is now where Germany is. Yves, raise speed, we need to see what happened there as fast as possible."_

_A half hour later, the 4 Tanks stood on the main street of Illkirch. Or better, where Illkirch should have been. The marsh the tank crews saw from the distance, was here instead of the city.  
>Reasonable sure that no monsters where in the direct vicinity, the crews left their tanks, taking some amateurish probes. It was then, when Captain Arnofoux began to rant about the injustice of the universe for what happened to Earth, to France. A memorable experience for his men, as the Captain was normally a rather laidback person and more so, the reaction to the rant by other persons!<em>

_Suddenly a foreign voice piped up from beside some low-grown trees._

_"You are Bretons? But we went east, so we should be in the Empire?! And since when Bretonnia has access to tanks? Such well-formed ones?"_

_The French soldiers turned to the voice and where shocked. The 10 people looked like having jumped right out of paintings from Rembrandt or Vermeer. Their clothes, their haircuts,...  
>All were armed with Axes, swords and 3 with some calivers. They looked tough, but the situation made them anxious, their weapons were raised.<br>But the biggest shock were the 2 persons looking like honest-to-god Dwarfs!_

_"Jean, are they old Germans? Is this a time-travel like in a Well´s novel? Their French is weird and the accent could be German, don´t you think?"_

_"No, this accent sounds more like Dutch and the Flores-Men never lived in Europe. And these two guys look even more like real Dwarfs than the Flores-people were. But enough, I have to address them, before this can get ugly!_

_Hello, I am Jean-Michel Arofoux and we are not in this Bretonnia, we are in France. What is that Empire? And please, there is no need to keep the weapons raised. We are as baffled as you are and mean no harm. Who are you?"_

_"Never heard of France. Is that a part of Bretonnia, because you definitely sound so? And how come you do not know about the Empire, your neighbouring country?" The man´s tone became more suspicious. "But since the event some weeks back wrought havoc with the World, I give you benefit of doubt - for now. So do not test my patience! But you at least earn an answer to your question. I am Claas DeJong, expedition leader from the great city of Marienburg. We were sent out to investigate what happened during that freak event. And it seems you have some answers!"_

_His eyes staying pinned on the two heavily-armed Dwarfs standing beside DeJong, Captain Arofoux felt a stomach ache. Something told him that the situation of Earth had suddenly become even more complicated.  
>Arofoux did not want to let this situation get out of control, so he said. "Monsieur DeJong, I think we both have needed answers. So how about we sit down together and exchange that knowledge? I doubt our respective nations is served well, if we get into a fight, when we can clear up the problems now?!"<em>

_DeJong contemplated it, then nodded. "That sounds reasonable."_

_**Chancellor´s Office, Berlin, Germany**___

_We are where Earth should be! The radio telescopes in Effelsberg and Garching confirmed it after days and days of work. The planet Germany is now on was in the same position as Earth. How is that possible? Well, this whole thing is a confirmation of the Multiple-Parallel-Universe theory with an exclamation mark!  
>Angela Markel looked out the window into the night-sky. Where two Moons circled "Earth". Mannslieb and Morslieb, as the natives in the Empire called them.<br>But a second moon was not the only addition for Germany, beside Illkirch, the cities Forbach, Lauterburg (F), Eger/Cheb (CZ), Tondern (DK), the Kleinwalsertal (AUT) and all polish territory on the western bank of the Oder (including 80% of Stettin and the polish part of Usedom) had been teleported with Germany.  
>It seemed to follow some rhythm, because not all territory close to the border had been ripped away with Germany. For instance, in 191920 Tondern, despite having voted with four fifth majority to stay with Germany, had been still given to Denmark.  
>The scientists postulated that it hinted to that regions which at some time in history had been lost due to "rigging" and still had some German citizens, were taken. Another conundrum for the scientists to solve.<em>

_But while her scientist´s brain was fascinated by the physics involved, the Chancellor had other things to do. Berlin was preparing for the arrival of the Imperial delegation, with their Emperor and most of the Elector-Nobility among them. A full state visit, as had been fixed in Bayrischzell some weeks earlier. Even more important, as a goodwill gesture by Karl-Franz, a substantial group of Imperial wizards, some had already arrived in the last week, would stay in Germany to screen Germany for magical talent and to help build up magical schools.  
>The Emperor had been impressed by the prosperity and High Tech of Germany and so both sides looked forward to meet each other "correctly".<em>

_**(former) EADS Helicopter Research Centre, Ottobrunn, Germany**___

_Workers were in the process of changing the signs and shields of the newly re-christened DASA Helicopter Research Centre. In one of the meeting rooms, the facility managers and military experts were brooding over the sudden changes in operations profile for Helicopters._

_"Meine Damen und Herren (Ladies and Gentlemen), I think we all agree that the CH 90 is a fine transport Heli, but not fitting the role of an attack chopper. We have the Eurocopter Tiger and some 'inherited' Apache attack Helis, but they cannot transport troops.  
>Germany has too few Black Hawks to last long and refitting the Sikorsky CH 53 would be stopgap, especially since we need them for other tasks even more. Considering the mobility of some of our new enemies, we need a Helicopter with a punch and the ability to transport some fast response teams. And we cannot wait for a new type, this takes too long. Planning on a new Helicopter for that has been started, but we need a chopper to be in production soon and with compliance to our diminished resources."<em>

_"Yes, but that means we have to reverse engineer or looking in the archives for blueprints of existing types to see which one is the best solution for now."_

_"Agreed."_

_"This is not so simple."_

_"Blitzmerker!"_

_"I´d say we concentrate on the Black Hawk, since the design is more modern than the CH 53. We might have to sacrifice a couple of them, but it will worth it until the new design becomes available in some years."_

_"We think that there is an easier solution." The eyes in the room turned to Waldemar Schramm and Anastasia Oberg, two of the Bundeswehr engineers.  
>"With the reunification, we got Russian equipment from the NVA, among them part of their Helicopter fleets. A small group of Bundeswehr personal and MBB engineers was able to build up a superb working relationship with the Mil corporation. One that survived all political ups and downs and the phasing out of the Russian stuff.<br>It will not surprise you that this conversation is strictly confidential. We have the blueprints for the new Mil transport helicopter, since it is - was- a joint venture between Mil and us. But that is not so important, some Enthusiasts, hmm, acquired the Blueprints for the Mil 24. It was strictly meant to be kept in the personal archives of said Enthusiasts and so we did. But the situation has changed profoundly."_

_"One moment, you say we have access to plans for the Hind?"_

_"Yes, for the D, F and even the avionics-upgraded version. The Hind´s hardpoints are modular enough to accept our weapons without too much fuss. For instance, the Mauser BK 27 and her successor in development can be fitted in the slot for the original 30mm Russian cannon. Not totally without some refitting, but doable in a short time. and Germany still has several Hinds in museums we could repair and re-commission."_

_"I think Michail Mil will be laughing on the cloud he is on now. Can we fit our turbines into the Hind?"_

_**Southlands**__**Coast, the Great Ocean**___

_"Allah Akbar! We did it! This is the coast of our new brothers."_

_The boat of the Jihadists dipped softly in the waves along the Coastline. The 3 men anchored outside a city, several kilometers away.  
>"Hamit, are the Korans ready?"<em>

_"Yes, the holy books are still in pristine condition. We have 160 onboard. This should be enough to start a movement for the one true religion."_

_"You know it will be a time until we can go back?"_

_"Naturally, but what a triumph it will be! On the tip of an army to free our brothers and sisters from the infidels. I nearly cannot await the moment we rededicate Cologne Cathedral to the worship of Allah!"_

_"All right, we keep our boat here. It is isolated enough to stay hidden until we can sail it into New Mecca."  
>Clothed like Arabian traders of old, the 3 men began their walk into the Araby city nearby.<em>

_**Near Albion, The Great Ocean**___

_The Ulthuan barque Biel-Tan´s Breath made steady progress on her north-eastern course. Farseer Teclis stood beside the Captain of the vessel, as stoic as a millennia old tree. He acknowledged his nearing apprentices with a friendly nod. He felt their agitation, but did not comment on it. A Farseer stood a bit outside the normal order and Teclis was of the opinion that if it was important, the two young ones would open a conversation.  
>As it came to be.<em>

_"Master Teclis, if the situation is as grave as we felt it, why do use this method of travel? We have other means, faster means."_

_"Rafador, the situation might be highly dangerous, but a Farseer cannot haste without reason. If we arrive too early, it can be more disastrous than the situation already is. Time has her own rules. You will understand later.  
>Sometimes, you have to let some events play out simply on chance, because intercepting would be worse. If they are still alive when we arrive in the Old World, good, if not, then that was to be."<br>__**  
>Unnamed Gouvernment Office<strong>___

_Herr Regierungsrat Meyer: "We're deeply sorry, Herr Hündchentreter, but your erronous entries in section 5d of form 53(b) means that we can not process your request for an invasion-battle at this time. If you wish for a revision, please fill out form 86(f) in triplicate."_

_Herr Hündchentreter: What? That can't be!_

_Meyer: But yes, look._

_Hündchentreter: Okay, where do I get this form?_

_Meyer: Oh, no problem. Just go to the next office._

_After reaching the office the last officials go. Herr Hündchentreter reads:_

_"This office is open:_

_Monday: 7.00 AM- 12.30 PM; 03.00 PM - 05.00 PM  
>Tuesday: 09.00 AM - 02.00 PM<br>Wednesday: 09.00 AM - 12.00 PM  
>Thursday: 09.00 AM - 12.30 PM, 03 PM - 05.00 PM<br>Friday: 10.00 AM - 12.00 PM"_

_Of course, it is Friday 12.01 PM!_

_On Monday he returned at about 09.00 AM. Of course there is a column of other people before him. And of course he is waiting at the wrong office. When it is his turn, he is politely sent to the right bureau. Unfortunately secretary Müller is ill and will come back the next day._

_On Tuesday he returns at 09.00 AM. But "do not disturb" is at the office. He waited. At 11.00 AM he knocked: "I am having my breakfast pause! Come back in 30!" Then nothing happened. At 01.50 PM he has to go for small chaos boys. When he returned, he sees Mr. Müller going. It is 02.03 PM!_

_On Wednesday he is there again. Oh wonder, he gets the form. But it is too late to return it._

_On Thursday he returned. He wanted to give it Mr. Meyer._

_Meyer: Yes, that's the correct form. But unfortunately you need the green form and not the blue one._

_After some small arguments he returned to Mr. Müller. He gave the right form._

_On Friday Mr. Meyer said: Yes, good. But it is still erronous. You can perhaps go to an advocate to help you._

_So he goes to Dr. iur. Schneider. After paying 250 bucks he get the form. It is too late to return it._

_On Monday Herr Hündchentreter returned._

_Meyer: Yes, you have that form. It is also correct. Now I need o9nly your card of identity._

_Hündchentreter: Card of identity? I don't have something like this!_

_Meyer: No problem. Just got to Bureau 03.63._

_There, of course, more people are waiting. The next day it is his turn._

_Frau Schmidt: You want an identity card? No problem. So what's your name?_

_Hündchentreter: Fridolin Hündchentreter._

_Schmidt: Place of birth?_

_Hündchentreter: In the Chaos lands._

_Schmidt: Your parents?_

_Hündchentreter: I don't have any. I am..._

_Schmidt: No problem. Unkown... Okay... Your nationality?_

_Hündchentreter: Chaos._

_Schmidt: You're no German?_

_Hündchentreter: No._

_Schmidt: Okay, that's a problem. Then I need a passport and a legal visum._

_Hündchentreter: -Sighing.- Where do I get it?_

_Schmidt: Oh, you need at first a passport. You need to go to your embassy for that?_

_Hündchentreter: But Chaos has no embassy here!_

_Schmidt: That's a problem. I need to make some phone calls... Hallo Eva, yes I will come to your party next week... No... Yes. But... I understand... Oh, please give me Mr. Schultz... No I have a question... Oh, pity. Whom can I ask then? ... Aha! Thanks!... One moment please, Mr. Hündchentreter... Hallo Jana... Yes, I know... And guess who will be coming to dinner with... Exactly... And she is so shy... Yes... But I have a problem. Is Mr. Lehmann there?... Yes, great. Can I talk to him?... Ah, Herr Lehmann. I have a question. There is a man here, who wants to get an identity card... Yes, he's an Alien... No, chaos... Ah, thank you. Bye...  
>Ah Mr. Hündchentreter...<em>

_Hündchentreter: Chrrrrr, chrrrr... yes?_

_Schmidt: Good news. You need to go to the office 06.38. There you need a form to get provisorical papers. With them you can return._

_Hündchentreter: Is that everything you need?_

_Schmidt: No, of course not. I need also a photography, please do not smile or look angry on that, your birth certificate, a form of the police that you are no criminal, a tariff statement that you don't import forbidden goods, a form from the ministry... Herr Hündchentreter?_

_Hündchentreter collapsed._

_Herr Hündchentreter was transferred to the nearest psychatric sanatorium._

_**Frigate "Sachsen", Araby Coast, Southlands**___

_To: Chancellery Berlin_

_From: CO Sachsen_

_Oil reservoirs found near Al Hajkk, Araby. According to scientist group, largest found in Earth- Human history. Problematic due to zero infrastructure at station, lacking defence territory and the long distance to Germany. Estimated to be nearly double as far away than the Middle-East on Earth, making convoys a must.  
>Propose further search for easier access sites and immediate development here.<em>

_**Cafe Überreik, Altdorf, The Empire**___

_The sudden appearance of a nation who seemed to be an Empire Province looked at through a trick-mirror, produced high waves in Altdorf. It had taken a few days, but soon couriers, town criers and newspapers for the rich began to spread the news. Rumours abounded in the capital city of the Empire.  
>Some people said that the Emperor and the Electors prepared for a state-visit and were close to the start day, others spoke about the fact that the new "Province" had unseen technological marvels, other persons that the new arrivals were heretics, the opinions varied from person to person. Especially closely examined was the fact that Deutschland had set up something of an embassy already.<br>The Cafe Überreik was a meeting point of all strata in Altdorf , from the lowly rat catcher to City officials, so all majority opinions on Germany could be heard here in concentrate._

_This was one reason Felix Jaegar and Gotrek Gurnisson had made a rest there on one of the duo´s seldom visits of the Capital. While Felix was excited how the Germans would really be, instead of the myriad rumours, Gotrek, in full Slayer mode, thought about what creatures this new land had. Maybe one could help him fulfil his destiny.  
>Then, for a moment everything went quiet, when a group of four entered the Cafe. The clothes, the way they talked identified them as members of the German Embassy. Their leader, a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, looked over the assembled crowd in the locality, searching for someone. Looking on some type of small picture, she finally zeroed in on Felix and Gotrek.<em>

_The two adventurers and friends silently and secretly readied themselves for whatever might come. The group came to their table, then the tall, blond woman asked with a certain assuredness in her voice, "Are you Felix Jaegar and Gotrek Gurnisson? I am Anika Vogler and work for the German Embassy. Which I think is easy to see."_

_"Now we know your name, but what leads you and your entourage to us?" Was the blunt question from the Slayer._

_Anika smiled. "You two are not totally unknown in Germany and I know you are adventurers. I might have a task for you, but details only after the Cafe here goes back to normal." Indicating the surroundings, the six people at the table made small-talk until the Cafe "normalised"._

_"I need additional security for a talk, local security so to speak. What we know about you is interesting, which makes you a good choice. Among the payment is information about Germany, which you, Herr Jaegar, will find more satisfying than the partly consternating or hilarious rumours."_

_"Let´s say, we are interested. But before we agree to anything, I want more information about the meeting you want to attend. We have seen and survived many things, so not all 'talks' will be interesting to a Slayer like me."_

_"Herr Gurnisson, we anticipated such a situation... So can a voyage to Castle Drakenhof stimulate you?" Anika Vogler´s smile never wavered. _

**_Western Bank of the Reik, Bretonnia_**__

_Baron Aristide du Lac de Dalambert and his "entourage de guerre" were one of Bretonnia´s most famed "spotter" teams. Little wonder, that they were among the group sent out by the King to investigate the strange silence from Bretonnia´s easternmost possessions. And more, they were the vanguard, a vanguard struggling with the surprise before their eyes._

_"Why is this Water here and what Water at that?"_

_"Sire, we have not deviated from our route! No river of that size should be here."_

_A serf took a sip of the water to test what it was. "No salty taste and the water has a noticeable flow when I put my hand in. This has to be a river, Sire!"_

_"The only River this large in several hundred miles around is the Reik. This must be the Reik... What Chaos-spawned sorcery is this? It must be the occurrence weeks back - the strange light bathing our land... yes this must be it. Nothing else was earth-shattering large enough in the close past."_

_"Milord, what shall we do now? What does that mean for our compatriots and relatives who should live beyond the new riverbed?"_

_"Claude, that we shall investigate and investigate we will. Prepare the floats!"_

_The simple floats being completed by the serfs did not look like much, especially in light of such a mighty stream. The Reik, at this late point of his new riverbed swollen on to a breadth of 21 kilometres, was a massive hindrance for anything crossing now.  
>But the descendants of Gilles the Breton, the founder of Bretonnia, had found out over time how useful a damsel of the Lady could be for warfare. Her wondrous gifts would help the group crossing the stream, even with only such basic floats. But more was not needed with a damsel part of the war band.<br>After crossing the Reik, the Bretonnians made a careful track into the "interior". There was something all had to stomach, the damsel of the Lady, the Baron, the squires, the serfs. This Land felt different, there was no other way to say it. The damsel and the Baron discussed it at length, why this could be so, but did not come to a conclusion._

_"Milord, Milord! Look over there - the signs! They are in Reikspiel! The Imperials must have taken the opportunity to rob our Bretonnia!"_

_The group had stumbled upon a paved road near a road sign.  
>"Hmm, what I find more interesting is the road itself, Claude. It is paved with some tarry substance. How could they do it this fast? It is just a month since that strange light-incident. Something smells fishy here and I have to say Altdorf will have to answer some very pointed questions in the near future. Let us search a bit more, then we return. The King must be informed that we might be at war with the Empire soon."<em>

_"Milord", one of the scout serfs suddenly points down the road, "there is something coming from there. A large group, I am sure."_

_"Take cover! We will just look at first, gauging their strength. Maybe we can overpower them. If not, we observe and then return."_

_Within a short time, the whole war band had hidden in the bushes beside the unusual road. What came into view was clearly a trading caravan. Heavy laden carts, people travelling on foot and horse, some armed and unfortunately in the mind of more than one serf, they were too numerous to attack. But soon their focus shifted onto the faces and the flags in the caravan.  
>The trading people were not really white, tinted with some yellowish colour and several had very almond shaped eyes. And their heraldry! No Imperial Cross, no twin-tailed comet or any other typical Empire symbol as the Bretonnians had estimated before, the most obvious symbol was a stylised sun with 12 rays spreading out in a circle.<br>Only the most educated among the 30 men and women had an idea who that could be. After the caravan was well away, a brainstorming was held on the way back to the floats._

_"They look like Cathayians to me and still not really."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I once talked with a trader from Cathay, these guys here look like relatives to them, but do not fully look the same."_

_"Really, they all seemed the same to me?"_

_"Maybe they are Cathayians, but the their heraldry was wrong also. The ship of that Cathayian trader did not have any of these prominent Sun symbols."_

_"Actually," decided the damsel to step in, "I care less who they are, but why these guys are here. I think we are sure that they must come from the Far East. A long distance from the eastern Couronne Marches, no matter who or what lays claim on this changed land. So, for them to be here, they must have started months, maybe years before now. And more, since this group of people never showed up in Bretonnia, neither on ship nor on land, they are here to trade with either Marienburg or the Empire."_

_"A good argument, milady! I somehow have the feeling that these pseudo-Cathayians are not here for Marienburg. No matter how strong the Marches were changed weeks back, the Merchant City lies quite a way down south, where his Highness is on the way to. No, they are here to trade with the Empire. Now let us think about it. A long voyage by these trader guys and the paved roads we saw leave only one result: The Empire took control of the Marches far earlier than we thought at first. What a pile of incompetence by our border guards!  
>We have to see to that they will be punished for their lack of competence and corruptness. How else could the Empire gain a foothold in secrecy? Wow, good old Jean-Pierre will throw a fit when we tell him of our foray! I predict that we will become the Vanguard again when we come back here and sack a city as punishment for the Empire´s audacity. I know de Brosioux well enough to know that he will be for a swift punishment action before we re-conquer our lands with a full army."<em>

_**Herr Hündchentreter in the Psychiatry**__  
>After his mental collaps Herr Hündchentreter was sent to the psychiatry of Ochsenzoll hospital in Hamburg. Only after some weeks he was able to communicate again.<em>

_Frau Stephanie Wald: Herr Hündchentreter, how are you?_

_Hündchentreter: I am fine. But why so many pink dragons fly through the air? And why is bread talking to me?_

_Wald (to a nurse): What did you give him?_

_Nurse: Only a bit Valium._

_Wald: Valium? That can't be!_

_Nurse: Yes, look here._

_Wald: Okay, we should try to stop Valium. Give Librium._

_After some days Herr Hündchentreter is only sleeping. Then Librium is banned as well. After yet another week Frau Wald returned._

_Wald: So Herr Hündchentreter, how do you feel?_

_Hündchentreter: I am fine. I think since ages I did not sleep so well._

_Wald: Yes. You are reacting somehow strange to some pharmaceuticals._

_Hündchentreter: Yes? Really?_

_Wald: Yes. But that's not a great issue. How do you feel?_

_Hündchentreter: I am fine._

_Wald: And what do you think about formulars and offices?_

_Herr Hündchentreter collapsed._

_After some days both met again:_

_Wald: Hello again. How are you?_

_Hündchentreter: I am fine._

_Wald: Okay, I think we had this before. But please tell me, how your childhood was._

_Hündchentreter: Childhood? I did not have any._

_Wald: No childhood? What about parents?_

_Hündchentreter: No, I did not have any. I was formed by the Chaos in the wastelands._

_Wald: Understood. I make a short note, okay. So when was you formed._

_Hündchentreter: 2098 IC._

_Wald: 2098. We have now..._

_Hündchentreter: 2520._

_Wald (noting something): I see... You had a long life until now._

_Hündchentreter: Yes, despite the fights._

_Wald: Yes, the fights. You were successful in most of them?_

_Hündchentreter: Yes._

_Wald: You also want to invade Germany?_

_Hündchentreter: Yes._

_Wald: Do you think that's a good idea?_

_Hündchentreter: Why not. I am serving the Chaos Gods._

_Wald: That are your gods?_

_Hündchentreter: Yes._

_Wald: And you feel ashamed about your deeds?_

_Hündchentreter: No._

_Wald: Do you have a bad consience?_

_Hündchentreter: What's that?_

_Wald (noting): Aha... That's when you feel to have done something evil and you're sorry._

_Hündchentreter: Never had such a feeling. I am proud to be evil._

_Wald (noting): Yes..._

_Wald: It is late for now. I will come back tomorrow._

_In her report Frau Wald will write:_

_Quote:  
>Herr Hündchentreter had a traumatizising past since his birth. He has tried to forget the childhood, which was so bad, he even believes to be formed by chaos instead of being born. Chaos became his supplemental religion to justify his actions and his existance. He seemed not having developed a bad conscience, which is underlining his bad childhood. And which is the reason Herr Hündchentreter becoming a sociopath and psychpath.<em>

_Further investigations are needed. _

**_Brandenburg_**_**Gate, Berlin, Germany**___

_All streets and places around Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden and Chancellery were packed to capacity with onlookers. Among the roughly 1 million spectators were some protesters, mainly left-leaning parties and human-rights organisations. But these were contained by police forces well out of range and with help from other onlookers.  
>The wind in Germany had turned in a way. Not only the events at Hof, but the ghastly fate of the Saxon border town of Olbernbaum or the fight at Hellenthal, where the worst had been prohibited, drove fully home what a dangerous world Germany now had to call Home. The re-introduction of a general draft for the Armed Forces, a serious enlargement of Bundeswehr, Bundespolizei (Border Control) and the raise of a Landwehr (Militia) had passed the parliament with ease. Only the most idealistic peace activists among the public were against it. But they were an ever-shrinking minority now.<br>So the Imperial delegation got a great welcome on their way down Unter den Linden to the Chancellery. It was the first state-visit in more than 400 years where both the reigning Emperor and all Elector-counts were in attendance.  
>And while it was a show for the Berliners and tourists looking, with living Griffons among Elite troops of the Empire, this Fantasy version of an Early modern Age "German" Army was still impressive even from a modern standpoint. A testament to the leading Power of the Old World.<em>

_Emperor or Kaiser, as was the designation in both Reikspiel and German, Karl Franz von Schliestein-Holswig and Chancellor Angela Merkel soaked up the goodwill of the German population lining the streets. They needed it, since both delegations tried to square the Circle._

_Germany and the Empire were the best possible partners and the worst enemies all at once. That much was clear after only a week of negotiations.  
>Karl Franz knew what an exceptional gift the industrial power of Germany was. He had been at the meeting of the German economy leaders and the Imperial Guild-leaders.<em>

_"So, Herr Rausch, your firm needs cocoa. Quality cocoa. We, the Far-Land-Traders guild, can deliver you cocoa in large quantities. It will be no problem. About how many sacks we talk?"_

_"If we talk about standard 25 kilogram sacks, we need in our factory here in Berlin around 200,000 sacks yearly for optimum production."_

_The silence from the traders had been deafening. And the chocolate factory was a medium-sized specialist firm! What corporations like Thyssen-Krupp or BASF needed in raw materials was beyond the pale. If having the needed stuff, Germany could handily outproduce the whole Old World, maybe even the whole world!  
>And here laid one problem. For the Emperor it was clear that Germany should be integrated into the Empire, keeping the magicless, but powerful advanced newcomers from becoming a wildcard for Chaos-incursions. But that would not be possible for a long time, both sides were so different, yet strangely similar.<em>

_By Sigmar, a unification now would ruin the economy of the Empire, not to speak of the differences in outlook and procedure. Both nations would run amok about the cultural matters. Beside that, the Emperor had the distinct feeling that Germany did think about similar topics, a unification on German terms._

_It was the soft-spoken voice of the German chancellor which brought him back to present. They had already retreated into the personal office of the Chancellor.  
>"Your Highness, we run around in circles. We both know that if we do something not deftly, the damage for both of our realms would be enormous. There might come a time when Germany and the Empire as a whole will think about a unification, but that will be in the future and quite a time at that.<br>I think the draft both we and our delegations made, is the cornerstone for the future. Your Empire will give us needed raw materials and further help Germany in the build-up of a magical force. Cultural exchanges, trade, help against Chaos...  
>We will give you weapons and tech and teach your guilds in the production. Germany will further help in the build-up of the Empire´s infrastructure. Better streets, canalisation,... and an alliance against our enemies.<br>This is less, an alliance and some deep cooperation, than some of both our sides wanted, but not only will it sooth the deserved pride of both our people, it is a start to bridge the gap in thought."  
>And hopefully we can change some of the Empire´s less nice aspects with an injection of Luther, Kant, Hegel, List and other thinkers, before this world can change us out of what we are. Without the Empire we are likely doomed, unable to build up magical expertise before Chaos will use our weakness. Even with the help of both the stranded Nipponese and the Imperials, it is a race against the clock. The Empire´s leaders know this to an extend and drove a hard bargain, but with the exception of a few, like this madman Leitdorf, they feel that too much would cost them a golden opportunity.<em>

_"That is right! The first step on a voyage is always the toughest. But I have to warn you, on paper and I am thankful for the foresights you gave us, it may seem that we will change the way the Old World is on, but Chaos has a knack for making even the easiest things hard. And I do not think that some nations here will relish the change in power."  
>The Germans have the heart on the right spot, if misdirected. No matter how advanced they are, in some areas we can teach them much and we will. But they need to stand on their own feet until they see that the Empire is the way. Sigmar gave us this gift, I am sure. They are our relatives. By the gods, how is that possible? I heard the explanation about abductions by gods in the far past of history, still...<br>The humans here are related to the humans of a World -Earth- unbelievable far away. Well, if anybody foolish believed that the Gods do not exist, this is the evidence of their false belief. But enough of this for now. Angela and I have to sign a treaty as pivotal as Magnus fight against Chaos. Let us hope, that we will be as successful._

_**Reichenau, Switzerland, World's Edge Moutains**___

_Urs Zuralmen fired his assault rifle again, bisecting one of the green-skinned monsters attacking his hometown. It had been bad enough that Reichenau found the world changed after the strange lightshow a month back. But as always, it became worse when one thought it could not. For one and a half week, green-skinned humanoids of various appearance attacked with few respite._

_The phones were dead, streets ended suddenly in an alien landscape, no internet, it was hopeless. The survivors of the last days had retreated into the town centre buildings. The rations would be enough for more than a month, but they needed outside help. The hope now rested on the jury-rigged satellite phone. Earth had been changed out of shape and "enriched" by this monsters looking like the Orcs of legend, but maybe the satellites still functioned. If they did, help might come, if not..._

_**Excerpt from reports to the German Government**___

_Helmholtz Geo-research Centre, Potsdam  
>Based on calculations from satellite orbits and expeditions on land and sea, the Warhammer World - our new Home for good or ill - has a nearly 50% larger equatorial radius, 9,312 km. So the equatorial diameter is 18,624 km, Earth has one of 12,472 km.<br>Counting in the uninhabitable Polar continents, this world has twice the landmass of Earth. If we just calculate the potentially inhabitable space, this "Warhammer World" has roughly a third more than Earth. This additional land is distributed unequally among the continents in comparison to the Earth landmasses._

_While Lustria and Naggaroth, the local "Americas" have few additional land, Naggaroth might even be smaller than North-America, the Old World and the Southlands especially are a good deal larger than their counterparts Europe and Africa. A good example and the only one we can say something really definite about at this time, is the so-called Old World. It is the local equivalent of Europe and with over 14 million square-kilometres a good deal larger. Geologically the eastern border of the Old World lies at the eastern foot of the Worlds Edge mountain range, while the southern frontier follows a line from the southern Sea along the southern tip of the Dragonback Mountains, through the Marches of Madness to the Sour Sea.  
>This World is rich in biological and metallic raw materials, which in itself is a sign of Terraforming done here. No planet as massive and metal-rich as the Warhammer World should have normal Earth gravity, still it does.<em>


	4. Chapter 4

**_Ministry of Defence, Berlin, Germany_**__

_Minister Thomas de Maiziere looked into the round gathered in the so-called Bendler Block. Delegates from the industry, Armed Forces and the government, rounded out with Warhammer-experts, delegates from the Imperial Army, Guilds and the Magic Orders. topped off by representatives of the Japanese living in Germany as translators and the Nipponese "remnant".  
>The work group of the last British, Canadian and American soldiers still in Germany had left a bit earlier.<br>A very faceted group, the Defence minister thought, but considering the brain addling situation that brought us to this world in the first place, exactly what we need._

_"Meine Damen, meine Herren, I know that some of you have little experience in military matters, but I hope you will still participate in the discussion, since sometimes a different look onto something helps much. And for the delegation of the Bundeswehr I am sorry that for the third time in a relative short frame of time a new basic doctrine has to be developed and implemented.  
>As you all know, we have now the OK from the remnants of the allied forces to use the equipment which came here with us. As nice it is to have for example 3 dozen nuclear warheads and the two B-52 and B-1 bomber which were caught during an exercise flight when the Weltensprung hit us, these weapon systems will play a role only in very specific scenarios.<em>

_Our task it is to lay the foundation for the doctrines we need here, the weapon systems used, what systems are possible at all and the coordination with our new allies, the Empire and the Nipponese. So let us begin!"_

_It became a long week, before the first working draft was finished. Some of the most important points:  
>- While development of cutting edge technologies would continue, for some time to come the future Bundeswehr would get modernized versions of older, less complicated weapons. Like e.g. the 8.8 cm and 12 cm AA-Guns with upgraded hydraulics and fire control<em>

_- Until supply with enough oil could be guaranteed, less consumption models and alternate methods of transportation would be used._

_- To secure supply with essential raw materials like oil from closer sources than Araby, prospection teams would travel the Empire, World's Edge and Grey Mountains and "little" Nippon._

_- Of highest priority was the development of Magic in Germany. Already started before with the help of Imperial and Nipponese Wizards, specialized schools for children and adults, loosely based on the Empire's Orders and Nipponese Mahou adepts, were established all over Germany.  
>In addition and already started as well, Wizards were travelling all of Germany to find the people with more than average talent for magic.<em>

_- With the loss of all former allies in the Weltensprung, all Bundeswehr units had to recover full sovereign operational capacities. Therefore, the last structure reforms are to be annulled with the exception of obvious improvements.  
>From now on, local year 2520, the Bundeswehr is to be structured into 4 different subtypes of units:<em>

_**Territorialtruppen**__ (Territorial Troops), units solely charged with the rapid defence of Germany and natural disaster relief  
><em>_**Eingreiftruppen (**__Intervention Forces), units for defence, counter-attacks and for helping allied forces  
><em>_**Angriffstruppen**__ (Attack Forces), Units able to do the tasks of the other two types, but are most suited to bring the War to the enemies of Germany and her allies  
><em>_**Landwehr**__ (lit. Land Defence = Militia), Militia troops, trained to help the Territorial Troops and to handle small to lower medium sized attacks on Germany themselves._

_- To help the Imperials and Nipponese with the defence against enemies, both are given several companies of FH70 field howitzers and other surplus material_

_- Imperial and Nipponese artisans, guilds and craftsmen can apprentice in Germany to learn about "new" tech and the making of said inventions_

_- Germany helps in the upgrading of medicine and agricultural knowledge, selling modern ploughs, seeds, medicine, fertilizers and other products to her allies. In reciprocity Germany gets seeds not native to Earth to widen the possible foods, knowledge about magical healing und raw materials_

_- The Nipponese will take control of all land to the bank of the Reik in the south-western "sector", Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony of the reast to create an easier line of defence in the West and Southwest.  
>In the East, the last remnants of the Wasteland was to be partitioned between Germany and the Empire<em>

_- Due to difficult oil situation and for practical reasons, Germany will build railroads to Kagoshima and Altdorf first, before spreading out the net further._

_- Nipponese and Imperials deploy troops to Germany to better help counter attacks by Chaos and Beastmen with "hands-on" knowledge_

_- Research into select breeding of Demigriffs, Griffons, Pegasi and other aerial beasts was to be started_

_- The Luftwaffe was to be restructured to lend even more support to the ground forces, but to retain air superiority as well. Since most possible enemies had inferior flying forces, Luftwaffe research should focus on incorporation of magic and rocketry, to keep the now invaluable satellites going._

_- Due to the nature of Chaos and local monsters, all settlements in Germany have to build at least some palisades for the Militia, but if feasible to erect real city walls again._

_- The Marine had to be restructured as well. With the differences in Tech level, long-range U-Boats and strong fast attack craft based on upgraded "Große Torpedoboote" (essentially light destroyers and corvettes) would form the backbone of the new Bundesmarine for patrol and attack.  
>Heavier units up to Battleships would be needed for the protection of the Trade fleets of Germany and the Empire, but compared to the numbers of U-boats needed, it would be a rather small percentage of big surface vessels.<em>

_Other ideas and instructions were to be developed during further ongoing consultations._

_**Brussels, Belgium, Earth**___

_"You know, thees humies ar no fun and reelly fun at once, Grognog!"_

_"Why so, Asdod? Look at di coliflower ears runnin!"_

_"Yea, but playn 'Teef o Tat' is so easy! I ave alraady 600 humie Teef! The humie Emprahs bois n garls at leest make it moh difficult!"_

_"Yo, but smashn the heads of deez troopz together is moh fun, I tell ya! It bingz nicely! And the gunz sound reel orky!"_

_"What a WAAAAAGH!"_

_**CNN Evening News**___

_"Good Evening, I am Rosemary Church and we have to open the news with another, I beg your pardon, bloody headline. Our reporters in Verona, Italy have posted us e-mails about an unprecedented outbreak of the bubonic plague there.  
>After the raid of Belgium by creatures right out of Tolkien´s books, which is now finally pushed back and confined to eastern Belgium, this outbreak is the second troubling news within three days from Europe.<br>Equally worse are the news from Kansas and other Midwest States where a never before recorded string of amok runs happens even at this moment. Washington is deploying the National Guard there in hopes of containing whatever pushed these people over the brink, before it can spread out further. The scientists are divided, if this is a new sickness spreading in the wake of the strange events over a month earlier or simply a breakdown in light of the vast destruction the Northern Hemisphere incured." _

Now this is the Law of the Jungle - as old and as true as the sky;  
>And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.<br>As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -  
><strong>For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack<strong>

Rudyard Kipling/Law of the Jungle

**Hag Graef, Naggaroth, Late Evening**

The Captain of the _Drachi's Kiss_ was not a happy Druchii, when he strode down the Bridge. Nobody could have seen it under the Mask he habitually wore against the evening Mist of Hag Graef, but he had received an unexpected summons, and this kind of thing did not bode well in this city.  
>Finally he reached the Tower, one of the higher ones around.<p>

After the usual nonsense which was to show him his lowly status, like leaving most weapons and his retainers he was finally led into the office he did not particularly wanted to enter.  
>It was as he expected - big, ostentatious and full of trophies. The owner was not facing him, but a map fastened to one of the less ornamental walls, demonstrating his casualness by presenting his back.<br>Well, two could pay that game, so Irglier just waited.  
>He did not have to wait for too long before the Silence was broken:<p>

„Irglier."

„Yes my lord."

„Corsair Irglier the Impaler"  
>„Yes."<br>„I hear that you plan a long range expedition?"  
>„Yes, we will raid the Bretons at Lyonesse, where we will..."<br>„No, you will not."

It took nearly all his willpower not to scream at this, but a well honed survival instinct intervened in time. You do NOT insult Isilvar Darkmoon - at least not more than once.

„I have a different target for your corsairs, one which will not just benefit your Corsairs, but will also please me and the Drachau."

„Which would be?"

„You will have heard rumours about the emergence of a new Nation. Well they are not only rumours...  
>These <em>Deutsche<em> are said to be a powerful state, having taken over the Wasteland and being allied to the Empire. They are said to be technologically advanced beyond even the Dwarves. They are said to be without magic. They are said to be many, many things, but we KNOW nothing.  
>This cannot be - we need knowledge, new slaves, not rumours!<br>So, at my behest and the behest of the Drachau you will conduct a raid into this Germany, and take as many slaves as you can. If you can bring us artefacts of power - so much the better.  
>Do not fail us..."<p>

„My Lord if I am allowed? Why me? We are not the biggest corsair fleet?"

"No, you are not. But you are available at short notice and your tactics seem to rely more on guile then some of your competition. If some of what we hear is true, that may be... useful.  
>Come to this map, I will show you what we think we know..."<p>

**Papenburg**, **Lower Saxony, Germany**

The Line at the Lidl discounter was not longer than usual, but it took more time then before, which was hardly surprising. Ralf Winkler looked at his watch again, decided that there was still time and tried to remain patient,

Finally the checkout arrived, and he put his items on the counter. The Cashier checked his purchases against his ration book and then quickly deducted the money.  
>He moved the stuff into the trailer behind his Pedalec, again thankful they had bought 2 Electric bikes a couple of weeks before the Weltensprung.<br>They allowed to take the daily commute and shopping without using the precious petrol allotments or wedging into the overfilled busses. In the major cities at rush-hour one could now see something which had been restricted to Japan in the _old days_. Conductors watching over the underground stations, making sure the wagon doors could close by pushing and pulling people into position.  
>He made it back to the Meyer shipyard in time and after taking some of his purchases with him rushed to the locker room.<p>

Some of his colleagues were already there and changing into Uniform, he went to his locker and gave a shrug when he saw his new Uniform. The shape was not the unfamiliar thing, the colour was. The Grey-Green still offended him somewhat - not for the colour, but what it stood for.

For 22 years he had been part of Civil Defence, or Disaster Management as the Germans preferred to call it. Having taken all the courses up to Paramedic in his spare time he had spend an interesting time with St. Johns Ambulance - finding his Wife, seeing strange countries and sometimes encountering situations that he really wished he had not.

Then after all these years he got only the chance of quitting - or joining the Landwehr. Given that he had no military experience at all he was quite amazed at that request until he found that the old Ex-Bundeswehr Reservists did not have any Medics or equipment at the moment.

When he arrived at the meeting room he saw as expected a lot of people like him-40-somethings, many going towards bald and a little fat and having the usual chat before the monthly company meeting.  
>He located his two Co-Medics and moved to them, plonking on the chair the two had thoughtfully reserved. „Moin Kinners" -the usual Greeting exchanged they decided that they had time for some business before boredom.<p>

„Ok Torsten, 20 packs of Cigarettes on me. What have you got?"  
>„4 Bars of Chocolate."<br>„Hmm, put some strawberries from your Garden in that pot and we are on."

Around them lots of similar deals were done - Black and Green Tee, Coffee, Tobacco and lots of other stuff were rationed these days and some then traded what they did not need themselves.  
>Ralf mused that between the rationing and the daily commute by bike the event finally managed to get rid of his „love handles" when nothing else could.<br>The good news was that generally food was not scarce, but specialities certainly were for the moment. Unlike some other nations of the now lost Earth, Germany was easily able to produce enough food to meet all requirements of a healthy diet. In fact, Germany was an exporter of foodstuff, but everything which had not grown in the cool climate of Europe or only with small yields, was now in short supply.  
>Pretty much at the allotted time the chatter ceased and Hauptmann Martensen put behind the pulpit.<p>

„Ok folks, let`s get this show on the Road. We herewith open the training session of the 31. Landwehr Company. I hope you all signed the attendance list and we can start serious business.  
>First off, congrats to 3 of us: Winkler, Möller and Fredriksen all finished the introductory course with honours. Learned anything useful?"<br>Ralf thought about anything to say about the rather abbreviated introduction into the Army, which was mandatory for all the members of the "Landwehr" that had not been in the German armed forces before. While he thought about anything to say Torsten Fredriksen chimed in:

" Salute anything that moves, pick up anything that does not move and paint everything Dark Green which is too large to pick up?"

After the laughter died, Claasen continued.  
>"Ok, seems like a fair summary. Now to something more useful, the next Field Problem is in Liebenau in 14 days, so we have to meet…"<p>

About 1 hour, and some more or less useful administrative details later: "Ralf Winkler, your turn."

"Ok, lets make it short, we all want to have dinner. Firstly, the medical team is now ready in all aspects, all members have finished their respective courses, we received the additional materials and as our Unimog is too heavy to pick up, it is now Olive Green!  
>We also identified some surplus material for the Exercise in Liebenau and some of our Wives agreed to make up some 'injuries' for us so we can have some extra training.<p>

Also, I need some volunteer medics for the annual town festival in June and another Paramedic for the Riding Tournament in July. I may add that these volunteers are eligible for the Medics which go to the Bundesliga soccer game 'Werder against Bayern', as our esteemed Bremen colleagues have some problems getting a full team together."

The latter, as expected, gave a good show of hands so it was easy to fill all places with warm bodies. This was a big part why Ralf swallowed the "Mickey Mouse Shit": A group of people who wanted to help, no money asked. It was fine to be a member of such a group.  
>Even so, he could have done without the 15 Kilometer bike trip home, especially at 9:00 PM, E-bike or no, but needs must when the devil drives…<p>

"**Drachi`s Kiss", Sea of Claws**

The Wind over the Sea of Claws was stiff and drove some spray over the Rails of the aft deck, soaking it`s Crew. Irglier did not have to make an conscious effort at not showing any effects. If he were to show any weakness at such a crew as his, he would be dead so long ago as to be removed from memory.  
>While making a show of checking the rigging and crew his thoughts were elsewhere. So far, he had always been the master of his fleet and only responsible to his financers. That was easy: Either he was successful, which satisfied his backers, or he was dead and did not care.<p>

Still he preferred not to be dead and had therefore adapted a style of raiding which was long on guile, stealth and duplicity, but also tried to raid targets where the likelihood of a "good fight" was low. His crew, or better the survivors, were quite happy with this.  
>Now he not only had to raid a target he was VERY low on solid information about, but Darkmoon had forced additional troops on him. While they could bring some useful capabilities they were not Crew, not used to fight with the rest of his Crew and not HIS crew.<br>That meant the first time in a long time he was facing a planning session he was not totally sure of surviving: Not an unusual state of affairs for a Druchii, but one he did not have to like.

Still, it was no use to postpone, so he made his way to his Cabin. While usually it seemed quite spacious it was highly cramped now as many more than the usual partakers had to find their seats-and not any seat but the seat which showed their status and power…..

He decided to make a quiet, businesslike entry, designed to show he had no need to bluster his way into a group jostling for power and status.  
>This meant that the loud discussion did not cease in any way when he made his way to his seat. But as a firm adherent to the 6 P rule (proper preparation prevents piss poor performance) a wink to his first mate was enough to cause an "event".<br>Used to relay orders all over the ship in the equivalent of a Force 12 Gale he did not have to "shout" per se, but his voice was still loud enough to stop all conversation immediately.

"Order on Deck, the Captain is in attendance!" got the expected results, a minute of quiet and lots of hateful looks by those not used to be ordered about.

"Better deliver now, old boy, or the results could be unpleasant" he thought and so he started off into the fray.

"I assume everybody here now knows everybody else and is busy telling everybody else how great they are and how much you are in command. Now this may be news for those not of my Crews: As long as we are in this expedition, I have it. Overall command. Anybody who has a problem with that can leave immediately."

As the most armed men in this meeting were his, this got no open dissent - and additional hatred. He could do without that, but a confused chain of command could kill him even more quickly. He savoured the quiet only for long enough to show that he was, indeed, the boss and then started on.

"As we can all agree now, let me show you what plans we have for the raid we are all on. If you look at this map you see a bay at the Border of Germany, which is the mouth of a river.  
>Our intelligence, such as it is, our informants tell us that the town at the river is a center of shipbuilding and commerce, but small enough that the defences will not be overwhelming.<p>

Actually, we can see no obvious fortifications at all, neither walls nor Castles or other strongpoints. There will be some men-of-arms somewhere, but we are uncertain of numbers, quality or armaments.  
>Either these "Germans" are totally overconfident, crazy or they know something we do not.<br>My best estimation is that they rely on their Navy a lot and may have a reason to.

Seeress Jasla reports visions of fast ships with no sails, made from Iron and armed with cannons. We cannot say how many Cannons or how strong their armour is, but they seem to be seagoing.  
>For those of us not used to the Sea: This is highly unusual as all Steam Ships we saw so far from the Dwarves are more useful in littoral seas and Rivers.<p>

Nether the less, I am not going to take our ships against theirs directly if I can help it - if we, do we shall win - but the costs could be bad. The big risk here is not the cannons per se, but fire. And believe me, there are better ways to go, including not at all… As the Germans are said to be allied to the Empire, we will go about this as follows…"

**The Battle of Swinemünde**

If someone didn't count engagements with pirates off Somalia and some clashes of the GDR and Polish navies concerning disputed sea borders before _the Wende_, the Battle of Swinemünde was the first sea fight in which a German navy was involved in decades.

Swinemünde, Stettin and the other part of Polish Vorpommern had also transported with Germany in the Weltensprung. In the magistrates many politicians were not very keen to be reunited with Germany. In fact, there had been several problems between the border towns on Usedom, especially about a FKK beach just at the border. Not only that the naked Germans could be seen by the Catholic Poles, some of them even went over the border. And now the Germans had de facto annexed Polish territory again. The events at Hof were only partly successful to destroy the resistance within some circles of the Polish population. Indeed the Battle of Swinemünde did much more.

Swinemünde was still suited at the Swine, which was no longer parting the islands of Usedom and Wollin, but Usedom and the Empire.  
>In the first night after the Sea of Claws had come back, a Norse dragon boat had entered the RostockWarnemünde lagoon and found Warnemünde and Rostock as not fortified and apparently undefended. As he had not enough men with him to attack such a large city, the Norse captain retreated and went to his chieftain upon arriving home. He told him, the gods had created a new land with rich cities only waiting to be plundered. The chieftain was very excited, but feared, others could come earlier, so he decided to hurry up. But his fears were not unrealistic as indeed the news spread in all of Norsca.  
>So a Varg raiding force was underway in all haste to become the first. And it worked. Under the security of a moonless night and magical fog, the Norsca raiders hit Rostock like a hammer. While the last ships leaving were caught by the Bundesmarine and it was mainly buildings damaged and pillaged, the Warhammer world had shown again how dangerous she could be.<p>

After this successful first raid, nearly every tribe was planning a raid. This lead to tensions between the tribes, as everyone wanted to be the next with a large haul. Unexpectedly the chieftains accepted a common strike against this new country in order to keep the chaos gods in a good mood. They were the ones, who gave them this donation after all. In the end over 300 boats were ready to raid the German coast, as nearly every tribe had sent a sizeable force. Together nearly 30.000 Norse warriors were on these boats ready to plunder.

After Rostock the German Navy had started to patrol in the Sea of Claws despite the burning of precious fuel to prevent such a case again. The P-3 C Orion sea patrol planes were flying over the sea while submarines and surface ships were patrolling the seas. At some positions even artillery batteries were put into service.

In the morning hours of the attack a strange fog appeared on the Sea of Claws and was nearing Swinemünde. As the meteorologists did not predict this the navy was put into high alert. Indeed a P-3 C could detect hundreds of small boats coming. The magicians on the boats had called this fog in the hope to protect the fleet from eyes. But it did not help against RADAR. The German frigate Köln was the nearest ship and engaged the enemy. The Köln had been recently recommissioned and was fully opertional. The battlecry "Köln kommt!" (Cologne comes) was heard again.

Soon the frigate called the attackers to retreat or fire would be opened. Soon after the nearest ship had been given a warning with a shot off the bow. For the Norse the fact, that they were detected, came surprising. Now the fog did indeed hamper them as they could not see the enemy. But they would fight. Soon the magic of the fog stopped. But as they continued they heard soon again a kind of thunder. Then they saw the boat, which had been missed just before, burning and sinking. Only few Norse were alive. Only a few seconds later several shells hit the next boat. And a third. Then they finally could see a single strage huge ship firing with a single gun on them. But it was several km away and so they needed time to attack it. Indeed they did not have to do so, as the frigate attacked them.

The fourth enemy was another Dragon boat, which was sunk, too, by the 3" Oto Melara gun. The fifth boat as well. Now her two helicopters started and attacked the enemy fleet as well. The Sea Lynx helicopters were armed with each four Sea Sauk missiles and a M3M 12,7 mm door gun. The Sea Skuas were deadly and sank eight attackers. Other boats were attacked with the door guns and sunk or damaged. Some were drifting to the new Pommeranian coast as their crews were all dead.

After the 18th kill the _Köln_ was in range of one of the Royal ships. As these ships were bigger and armoured, the captain of the _Köln_ decided to sink it with a Harpoon missile. The other big radar echoes were also targeted with Harpoon missiles. That were bad surprises for some Norse, who indeed did not know yet they were in a fight!

The _Köln_ was still sinking ships with her guns, but she now came too near to the fleet. Nevertheless her commander ordered her to drive with full speed ahead. "Damn Norse! Full speed ahead!" he said. He ordered soldiers with rifles to the decks to fire on the enemy ships. The 27 mm CIWS, the 12,7 mm MGs and the RIM 116 RAM missiles were cutting through the enemy ships.

Soon after Tornados and Eurofighter appeared. They used normal bombs and board guns only but created more havoc. Also the gun battery near Swinemünde fired on the enemy from a distance of 30 km. In the meantime _Köln_ had even rammed and sunk two ships without big damages. However, her ammunition was now nearly empty, so that she retreated. Soon after Schnellboote and the corvette _Braunschweig_ joined the fight the Norse retreated. They had lost 111 ships with about 12.000 men. About 2.000 Norse were captured by the Germans with yet another 8 ships captured.

The only German soldier harmed was a man on _Köln_, who was hit by a Norse arrow in the arm. For the Norse it was defeat they had to deal with. Germany was no gift by the gods for them. Quite the contrary. For the next time they were going to be more cautious and bring in much more Sorcerers, when they found something "German". The easy victory in Rostock had made them overconfident, so they had left most Vitki and Chaos Sorcerers at home. A bitter mistake and one which would not be made again. A decision, which meant a lot of headaches for the German forces in the future. Germany had been lucky, but that the Norse could learn, was soon seen in another raid near Neustadt, where a small village paid a deadly price for the Battle of Swinemünde.  
>For the Poles an attack by Viking raiders was something new. They knew, they had no chance without the Germans. So they accepted the reunification with Germany.<p>

**Frisian Coast Line, Sea of Claws:**

The small Police Cutter "W3" of the Water Police went through the light swell at 20 knots, chasing a small number of unidentified Contacts their Radar had shown. The light of the dawn showed a sight nobody of the policemen would have expected a couple of months before: A small convoy of Galleon-like ships, sail powered, with high lines.  
>The low length-to width ratio showed them to be merchantmen tacking along roughly along the 3-Mile line which demarked German borders.<p>

The Mate went into the rail-enclosed Pedestal mount and readied his Megaphone.  
>"Ship Ahoi" got a result.<br>The following was less clear and took more time - while Frisian accented German and Nordland Reiksspiel were quite close there was still engine noise and a great cultural divide to overcome.

The meaning of the "conversation" was clear any way, the Convoy was just transiting to the Empire and hugged the German coast to avoid Pirates.

Feeling useful and content the commander exchanged farewells and set the course of his Cutter closer to the coast Line and back onto the patrol route.

The Captain of the lead Galleon stepped back, delayed anxiety causing cold sweat and a dose of the shakes. He was the father of 2 Children and was doing everything that they did not share the fate of his other two.

A shadow parted from the door to the deckhouse: "Well done Human, you and your whelps will live a day longer…"

**Martensen Farmstead, Mitting, close to the Sea of Claws, 4 am**

Malith of the Scouts stepped back from the Window of the farm`s living room, wondering again at the impossibly large and clear Windows in what had to be a simple farm. He looked down at the farmer`s wife. While she was still breathing her eyes were as empty as the Window, her mind having retreated to a place where an unbearable reality could not intrude.

What she and her family had told had been so unbelievable that they had been quite insistent in their questioning. If what they told were true then the only armed forces within days of travel were some law keepers.

There was no Castle or other protective shelter for the Farmers, no armed retainers of the minor nobles, no nothing. They had not been raided for Generations and had obviously gone happy, lazy and fat.

Well this was about to change…

He went to the back of the room and asked their sorceress again for any news.  
>"Malith, for the last time, I have send our findings to Lord Irglier, who gave no comment about what is to happen next. We can all safely assume that we all follow the plan and we will be relived soon. Instead of bothering me about things we all know, better tell me what that box with that light is down there."<p>

Which box? Malith turned around and saw a small flat box which had so far been covered by the farmer`s wife. The front side was glowing and faint noises were coming from it.  
>He could not make any sense of it, and as there was nobody around anymore who could answer questions he simply stepped on it.<p>

The lights and the sounds faded immediately, so he settled for a wait. When he looked outside the Window again he saw one of his sentries crawling back to the door.  
>"I hear some of these horseless carts approaching, but see no lights this time. May be somebody tries to sneak on us? "<br>"Try to find more. Take Urglieth with you."

The sentry sneaked back towards the source of the noise he had heard. Quickly he found some bigger horseless cars hidden from the farmhouse by some trees.  
>A lot of men were milling around, all talking in muted voices. He looked more closely and saw they were the first armed men encountered so far. Some wore what looked like partial armour, helmets and some very short, strangely shaped firearms.<p>

He kept in the darkest shadows, relying on his far superior eyesight to keep things under observation but not being seen. One of the men pointed an impossibly far telescope at the farm he had just left and looked into it.  
>Strangely the eyepiece of the telescope seemed to glow faintly. Suddenly the man turned around, obviously to pass that telescope when he seemed to see something.<p>

"He, Sie da, was machen Sie da? - Stehenbleiben…" all of this meant nothing to the Sentry, but that he was discovered was obvious. He fired off his crossbow, catching his opponent in the throat before wiggling backwards as quickly as he could.

When he was a little distance away he got up and started to walk quickly back to his comrades when the screaming intensified. He turned back and aimed his crossbow in the rough direction of the noise when he heard 3 muffled explosions. He was still wondering about that when the second salvo ripped him off his feet.

Jan Petersen from the local MEK (Swat equivalent in German) had to admit to himself that he was somewhat out of his depth with this situation. Normally they were laying siege to the bad guys and then overwhelmed them in well planned lightning actions.  
>The bad guys were not supposed to go after the Police after all.<p>

As he could not ascertain whether the two dead …_somethings_, who seemed to be Elves according to the species fact sheets they got, had not warned their compatriots in the house he had to take a decision which could only endanger his men more, but which was inevitable:

"Ok folks, this went down the drain. Lets make this as quick as possible. Each group takes up their positions right now, when ready give me a signal.

He saw his men going to their starting positions quickly and got the "all clears" in rapid succession.  
>"Ok, on my mark-gogogo…."<p>

Malith was keeping himself from cursing with an effort of will since it would hurt morale. Instead he gave orders in what he thought was a commanding whisper and distributed his men at all entrances to the house. He had enough men and the building was sturdy enough to make a stand until relieved.

He was still trying to see what enemies were out there and where when a small cylinder broke right through the Window and started spewing some smoke, immediately followed by another one.  
>Then the world went mad.<p>

The "flashbang" the MEK had thrown into the room was designed to emit an overwhelming light and explosive sound that would not leave permanent damage in humans but which would paralyze them for some seconds.  
>For a Druchii with their somewhat more sensitive Ears and Eyes it was far too much. That the police went in screaming was of no account and the orders to lay down arms were neither heard nor acted upon.<br>The police, charged with adrenaline till the gills and having an easy time identifying the bad guys opened fire immediately and killed nearly all elves before some reason returned.

Jan Petersen eagerly awaited the situation from his men, and the "all safe, no losses" was a godsend, reliving him of the fear having send his men to their deaths.  
>The "Chief, please come in here" was less welcome, as was the voice in the wireless. The Hauptwachtmeister who called him was a veteran of many years, and anything which could faze him had to be bad.<p>

When he entered the living room the first thing he saw was a very pale and very, very dead, very slender looking man in a medieval looking armour who still had a complicated looking crossbow in his hand.

And what he then saw could not be it...

His eyes went over that "thing" twice before acknowledging that they had be the remains of a man and two children. His mind was screaming at him that THIS COULD NOT BE and at the same time knowing it had to be.

He did not make it out of the room before he had to puke his guts out.

Getting some hold of himself, he stumbled out of the house to get some breath. When he finally straightened himself he saw in the light of the beginning day a long line of Raiders coming in his direction. 


	5. Chapter 5

_Since it is Christmas, today it is a double update. Have fun!_

**Büsingen, Lake Constance, Germany**

"... And with great joy I hereby declare the bridge over the Lake to be open!"

Applause could be heard as Winfried Kretschmann, Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, cut the traditional tape. The bridge was a provisory, anybody at the ceremony, be it government like the Chancellor and the Prime Minister or the people of Büsingen and Germany. Still, it was something and it brought some prestige as well. No matter the circumstances, the "Hohentwiel-Ponton- Bridge" was the biggest ever constructed on the Warhammer World. Before the Weltensprung, Büsingen was a German enclave, surrounded totally by Swiss territory. After that Earth-shattering event, the village found itself on an Island in the very enlarged Lake Constance or Bodensee as the Germans called it.  
>In the tumultuous first time on this new World, Berlin played with the thought of evacuating all citizens of Büsingen to the "mainland". But this never came to be. Since the raids and attacks on German territory had started, an evacuation would be seen as a sign of weakness.<p>

But Germany´s resources, especially fuel, were needed far more urgently somewhere else than to keep contact with a small village via air and the larger ships had no harbour to use. How to solve that problem?  
>Rumours said it was after an action movie, that a state secretary had the idea to build a pontoon bridge until Germany had the time and raw materials to erect a solid one. It was not the best solution, but a workable one under the circumstances. So the several kilometres long bridge was completed, under the watchful eyes of some of the Old World factions, if the recognition charts on the ships close to the horizon were correct.<p>

**Istrabul, Araby, Southlands**

"What do you bring me this time, Aloptep?"

"In the last few weeks priests of a new god came to Istrabul, o Spring of Wisdom. They call him Allah and as one of our Flowers of Hearing recognized when reading the holy book of that belief with help of magic, they claim him to be the only true god."

"She read it with magic? Why that?"

"These _priests_ say that the holy book cannot be translated, because outside the holy language his true vision cannot be gleamed. After reading the book, our flower says that it is clearly a safety measure, because what those men talk about and what is written in the book are two pair of shoes, o Clement One."

"What is your opinion about this?"

"Your humble servant is unsure at this point, but after talking with Ayesha, I am convinced that this self-righteous religion is trouble in the long run. Like Breegh roots."

"Call Ayesha. I want to talk to her myself, but you two never failed me before, so I want you to prepare a meeting with these priests. I wonder if they will still be as cocky after a _discussion_ with the followers of Kheala Mensha Khaine."

**Army Airbase Laupheim, Laupheim, Germany**

Colonel Kurt Crüwell cursed silently, while he was strapping himself into the gunner´s seat of his "new" _Hind_ attack helicopter. _Fucking Great! All ready for a helping mission and now knowing that you would be needed elsewhere as much..._  
>It had been a lucky break for Germany to find out that full 14 Hinds were still in Germany and the Heli specialists in Donauwörth were working full speed to bring them into fighting trim again.<br>Crüwell´s newly formed Kampfhubschrauberbrigade Süd (Attack Helicopter Brigade South), as one of the early changes in the German doctrine, had already gotten 6 Hinds delivered. Together with the MBB Bo-105 (in the military variants) and MBB-Kawasaki BK 117, some _Tiger_ helicopters, the German _Sea Stallion_ variants already long time on Base, 2 reactivated Mil Mi-8, 6 _Black Hawks_ from the former US-Forces and 2 _Apache´s_ from the British Army, Crüwell´s men and women were now responsible for the whole southern part of Germany.

There was a big Helau, when one day the depressingly silent military air waves were disturbed by the call of some Swiss guys from Reichenau, part of the Township of Tamins, which turned into hectic preparations to send help to the beleaguered comrades from Earth.  
>Unfortunately, the Weltensprung had deposited the Swiss town from Graubünden into the World´s Edge Mountains near the Mootland, which meant quite a distance away from Germany.<p>

So Crüwell on order from Berlin, had developed a plan with several "Tanker-Helis" and an improvised refueling stop near Averheim. Then the Hinds and Sea Stallions would deliver firepower and soldiers to Tamins and turn the tide.  
>Everything seemed to go perfectly, until only some minutes before the crews would man the helicopters the emergency call from a MEK near Papenburg came in. While Papenburg was not in his area, Crüwell knew his Helis would be an enormous help, if the message of a large and cruel Raiding Fleet was correct.<br>Knowing his fatherland would soon be under attack and his forces unable to help, soured the mood a bit. But the Swiss needed his help equally urgent.  
><em>You cannot be everywhere at once, no matter how I wish it was possible. This new World... Moment! We can spare 3 Tiger without compromising the mission and our designated airspace.<em> _Hopefully, it will be enough!_  
>Happy that he could do something for all pressured sides, Kurt Crüwell opened a channel to the tower while running the rest of the pre-flight check list.<p>

**Winkler Family apartment, Papenburg, early morning**

Ralf was a "Early riser", but even so he preferred to stay in Bed 15 Minutes or so after the alarm clock went off in order to wake up properly.

It was different when the pager went off - he was out of the house within 3 Minutes and did not spend a second thought about fuel allotment, he did not need to because of the alarm and drove to the assembly point in record time. The streets were far less crowed than before the Weltensprung, the fuel rationing until more oil could be secured taking care of that, especially at Lower Saxony´s new coastline.

Getting his uniform from the locker was old routine and he was halfway to the Garage when he shook his head, went back to the armoury and drew an "Uzi" submachine gun from the rack before going back to his Unimog.

By that time his two Co-medics had also arrived and together they packed some backpacks and other equipment on board which had to be stored separately, then they went back to the assembly hall.  
>The Hauptmann (Captain) was already there and gave a first briefing.<p>

"Folks, from what we can tell we have an incursion of several hundred _Dark Elves_ into our territory. They are currently at Mitting and are laying siege to a Group of MEK`s in the Martensen Farmstead. It is possible that they also raid the surrounding farms.  
>As the 1st Platoon is more or less complete you take our resident medics and make all haste to south Mitting. Evacuate all inhabitants and protect them if necessary.<p>

Intelligence will be provided by the MEK and the Police Helicopter "Phönix 64", you can get their wireless via the emergency center, so tune one 4 meter Set to Channel 464 GU.  
>Supply: You do not need until the rest of the Company relieves you. Lift the Siege of the MEK if you can.<br>When done protect that Village until relieved. Dismissed."

There was no "ra-ra" or any other slogan before 1st Platoon filtered out of the room, this was not the way of these elderly part-time soldiers.

They went quickly to the Garage and like practiced several times drove as a column of Trucks with the Ambulance Unimog in the lead as it had siren and lights, so it did clear the streets faster than a normal truck. Only when they had cleared the town border they switched and put the truck with the first troop in the lead.

By that time Lt. Frediksen had finally gotten a connection to the Police and asked for a sitrep. A rather excited Chief told him about Dark Elves laying Siege to the Martensen Farmstead and a much larger troop of infantry and something like Cavalry assembling in the Fields north of Mitting.

Frediksen had actually been a Major in the Bundeswehr in "his times" so he was far less dangerous with a map then Lieutenants usually were, actually he was better than some younger men, now that there no longer was a functioning GPS.  
>He decided to stop at the Marker Heuweg-the local Village Road- and to go on from there.<p>

When he got out of the Truck he could hear some shooting from the Farm that was his target, so he decided to get things going quickly. He assembled his Platoon.

"Platoon, listen: We will make a Line along this Drainage Channel from here to the side road. Once done we advance to contact. Put the Machine guns to the flanks, Troop 1 and 2 move alternately. Medics get 50 meter to the rear and follow as needed. Execute."

2 Minutes later the white faced Infantrymen pushed forward through the wet grass of the fields, 1 Platoon always staying back to cover the rest, then alternating after 100 meters.  
>After 500 Meters they encountered the next drainage ditch and took cover when signalled to halt by their commander.<p>

Checking his Binoculars the Lt. saw a sight which could have been from a bad Fantasy Movie: A lot of very slender men and women in what looked like the S&M-Version of Medieval armour shooting crossbows towards the farm, while others gathered wood, obviously for a wet fire.  
>He gestured for his Sergeants to gather at his Position for orders.<p>

Irglier was irritated-this Raid did not start well. Normally the first hours of a raid were a rush of quick torturing, killing and looting before any organized resistance could be mounted. One of the reasons the Druchii were so feared for their raids was that they did not become an out-of-control mob but kept their cool and remained organized unlike some barbarians he could name.

This time the advance party was already dead, the farm, were some gunmen were holed up, not yet taken and now a troop of some 30 Irregulars was approaching his position. Were they arrogant enough that they thought some musket fire would scatter his troops like some Savages?  
>His soldiers were of a different calibre: Cool in their rage, experienced in battle beyond what any human could aspire to. He and true Elvenkind would win, no question.<br>The problem was not to let the costs escalate, these soldiers were his stock in trade and hard to come by.  
>The shooting from the farm had been very mixed: Accurate enough to 100 meters or so, and strangely rapid, but the shots often failed to penetrate the heavier armour. Irglier assumed the defenders to be pistol equipped.<p>

Now the Irregulars (they had to be as they advanced in very open order) had taken cover in some ditch. Best to wipe them out quickly and then get on with business.  
>He send a troop of his crossbowmen against the ditch, 50 Corsairs should be able to take these unarmored men-at-arms easily.<br>A few commands later an orderly block of disciplined killers marched towards the irregulars, certain to blow through the light troops with minimal losses.

The G3 rifle was in some ways quite similar like the soldiers using it now: Build in the late 60`s or early 70`s , weighty and overpowered by modern standards, it was utterly reliable when even minimal care was taken.  
>Likewise the munitions were from a different era. Having more than 9 times the power of the 7.65 mm Pistol ammo which had splattered uselessly against the Sea Dragon Coats and armour, it contained a nasty feature on top of that.<br>It`s designers had acknowledged the constraints of the Geneva convention against deforming or exploding ammo, but had made a "crimping notch" around the cooper mantle of the bullet, ostensibly to hold the bullet in the case.  
>It`s effects became rather clear after the bullets penetrated what personal armour there was with contemptuous ease as the bullet broke apart at the fault line and lots of Fragments fanned out into its victims' bodies. Not wasting power on over penetration like the 9 mm Parabellum ammo (which could break through several walls under best circumstances, but lacked a bit in the man stopping department) the Fragments ripped organs, pulverized bones and left a hollow zone of utterly destroyed tissue around the bullets channel.<br>The lucky victims died immediately, the others most often just took longer.

The Battle rifles were much too powerful to be used but with single, aimed shots. Still, 25 shooters were easily enough to decimate the Elves troop within seconds. Many of the Landwehr soldiers had honed their skills in the local marksman associations and had no problem at all putting the lead on target.  
>Lt. Frediksen was amazed that his enemies were stupid enough to make such nice targets, but he was willing not to look the gift horse in the mouth. The Elves lacked experience against a modern force and the <em>Leutnant<em> sincerely hoped the _Long-ears_ had no powerful wizards and witches among them. From what he heard, it would still be quite some time until the nearest Imperial Battlemage could be ferried here.  
>Now the game of Cat and Mouse began in earnest.<p>

**Herr Hündchentreter in Stuttgart**  
>After six months in the booby hat... erm, psychiatry Herr Hündchentreter was relieved. The first thing he did was resuming his plan to get all administrative acts he needed. Unfortunately he needed also the okay of all 16 state's police authorities with the okay of the prime minister of each state. Although he was in Hamburg, he went to Stuttgart to start there as he had heared the prime minister there was a Green. Perhaps he could help him more. He arrived there by train. After exiting the station:<p>

Herr Hündchentreter thought: "Sex, sex, sex. All this psychiatrists could think only about sex. When I had sex the first time. With whom. How. If I was gay. Or hetero. She couldn't believe me I had no sex at all! Because I had no sexual organs. I once read in my file: "Fridolin Hündchentreter ... The patient is very difficult and had a very problematic past. He had forgot his childhood completely ... Furthermore he has sexual problems. They are so grieveous he believes to have no sex at all as he had no sexual organs. And indeed after he was examined, no sexual organs could be found. Indeed that leaves two possibilities. Either he was born without them or he was mutilated. Considering the circumstances he lived before, the latter is much more propable. However, even in the first case he had developed severe problems because of having no sex. As Freud already said..." Then I stopped reading. Heck, why are these psychiatrists thinking I was not content or had problems because of having no sex. Well, perhaps they don't know, what happens, when I kill an enemy... I am a normal chaos..."

He awoke from his thoughts after nearly running into a demonstration of a few people.

Herr Hündchentreter: "Sorry, I was in thoughts."

Demonstrant: "All say that. Especially people from the government. We are demonstrating nonetheless."

Hündchentreter: "And why do you demonstrate? I am Fridolin Hündchentreter btw."

Detlef: I am Detlef. I am demonstrating, like the others here, against Stuttgart 21.

Hündchentreter: Stuttgart 21? What's that?

Detlef: Where do you come from never hearing about Stuttgart 21? It is the problem of the century.

Hündchentreter: Understood. But I am a chaos brood. I did not...

Detlef: Aha. You are one of these autonomous. We don't need people like you!

Hündchentreter: I am no "autonomous". What's that?

Detlef: Someone to make only trouble and chaos.

Hündchentreter: Well, then, yes, perhaps I am an autonomous.

Detlef: I thought so. We don't need you in our fair fight to rescue the castle garden!

Hündchentreter: You try to rescue trees?!

Detlef: Yes. And the plants. Do you have an idea what is living there? We have here examples of...

Hündchentreter: No thanks. But with Chaos I could help you...

Detlef: We don't want your help. We don't want any chaos! We just don't want Stuttgart 21!

Hündchentreter: But what is Stuttgart 21?

Detlef: You want to help us with your chaos and pretends to know anything about Stuttgart 21? Oh you autonomous. You are only living for chaos and violence.

Hündchentreter: Yes. And you have a problem with that?

Detlef: Of course. This is a just cause. We don't want to illegitimize it.

Hündchentreter: And what does your comrades do over there?

Detlef: They are trying to throw Molotow Cocktails on the police. And?

Hündchentreter: Cocktails? It looks like fire bombs.

Detlef: That are fire bombs.

Hündchentreter: Then you make chaos as well!

Detlef: No. This isn't chaos but fighting for a just cause.

Hündchentreter: But you're using force.

Detlef: Yes. To defend ourselves. And our cause.

Hündchentreter: You're figfhting for some trees with fire bombs and you despise chaos?

Detlef: Of course. And you fight only for chaos.

Hündchentreter: Yes.

Detlef: That's the difference.

Hündchentreter: You Chaos gods, help me. Look...

Detlef: I don't have any time left. I must catch my train to Berlin.

Hündchentreter: You use the train? You're not from here?

Detlef: No. I am not. But my living place has nothing to do with this station.

Hündchentreter: And you despise chaos?

Detlef: Yes, of course. Chaos is something very bad.

Hündchentreter: The chaos gods must have become mad. Look. This is chaos you want to do!

Detlef: No. Only you autonomous want that.

Hündchentreter: And what is your profession?

Detlef: I am studying psychiatry.

Herr Hündchentreter collapsed and was brought back to Hamburg-Ochsenzoll.

**Battlefield Mittting**

Wolfgang Böhler did what every good sniper did – getting separated from his Company and gotten into a high position. In this case the "Owl Hole" of a Barn and was scanning the Battlefield trough his rather high-powered scope.  
>Of course he was no official sniper, the title was "dedicated marksman", but as with a lot of things in the Landwehr such things were handled somewhat loosely.<p>

When he was issued his G3SG1 (the sniper Version of the G3 rifle) he took it dutifully to the range, tried to make it work properly-and then put it back to its case.  
>Presently he was holding his private Mauser rifle he had taken to many Alpine hunts, shooting Game over long distances, this rifle had nearly double the useful range of the official one.<p>

He was looking for any leaders to show their ugly heads and was again unhappy that he had nobody to scan the field with a Binox for him, but was rather happy that most Elves so far had not seen the wisdom of not bunching up or taking cover by lying down.  
>He had already spent a Magazine on several Leadership looking types and had them <em>ausgeknipst<em>. Wolfgang had noted down the kills in his "shot book" during a lull in the fighting and now looked around for something else to shoot at.

Jasla was both furious and afraid-an unusual state for a Druchi of her rank-but unwelcome nevertheless. She was a proud sorceress and not used to slither on her naked stomach in wet grass like a lowly worm. Unfortunately this was the only way she could stay alive long enough to work her Magic.  
>Being outranged by far by gunmen who could shoot from cover was a very nasty surprise. Jasla knew that there were ways to lengthen the range of oneself´s magic, but that was nothing learned overnight or lightly. Especially when up to now only a few specialists of the various species on the world had learned such knowledge., since it was not needed much before. When she reached another cowpat she would have had to wriggle around she decided that she was close enough she send one of her sisters a mental signal.<br>Immediately thereafter she heard a "thrumming" sound and long bolt swished overhead from the two repeat bolt throwers of the raiding party, hopefully keeping the heads of the Germans down for the time she needs to work her spell.  
>Jerking upright she casted the spell that she had already prepared in her mind and threw it into the midst of the German line.<br>Immediately she heard screaming from the enemy when the soldiers writhed around in unbearable pain which would keep any but the most strong-willed from shoots with any accuracy. Concentrating on keeping up the spell she felt rather than heard the charge of the Cold One Knights.  
>This should bring the matter of these soldiers to a rather short end, even if it would be far too fast for humans who had inflicted so much damage on their betters.<p>

Modern Infantry units keep far more distance between individual soldiers then low-tech ones because their firepower is big enough to allow that, and also to minimize losses from explosions and machine gun salvos.  
>As any Infantry leader worth his salt Lt. Frediksen had kept his machine guns in reserve for the main rush, not wanting to give away their position.<p>

This was what saved the first platoon-at least most of it, as both machine guns were outside of the effects of the spell so artfully send by Jasla. The charge of the Cold One Knights followed the spell so closely that the gunners had no chance to get distracted by their fallen comrades and opened fire immediately on the cavalry.  
>As the Cold Ones looked quite fearsome, the Knights lances seemed to point directly at them and the distance shrunk VERY fast nobody took notice of the Sorceress which was still standing in the middle of the field.<p>

Of all machine guns arguably the best for infantry work is the MG3, the descendant of WW2`s MG42. Relatively lightweight, durable, easy to handle and firing the same round which the G3 used for single shots, the MG3 manages 1200 Rounds per minute or more depending on the configuration.  
>Both gunners were so shocked by what just happened that they reverted to the Ork school of firing immediately-long uncontrolled bursts.<p>

Even as they were both big men and had positioned well, the sheer force of the firing pushed them back by half a meter, digging furrows in the ground with their shoes all the way.  
>The effects on their targets were much more dramatic.<p>

The charge of the Knights was disciplined and orderly in it`s fury, meaning the Cold Ones were charging in a well ordered block with minimal distances. What would normally insure that any infantry in their way would just be so much as minced meat, now meant that they were the ultimate target.

The bullets from the long salvoes were so close together that they actually managed to rip off limbs and disintegrate heads into bits far too small for any identification.  
>It was to the credit of the Knights and their mounts that they did not break off the charge and that a few reached the German line, but even so they inflicted few damages before being shot to bits-in some cases literally.<p>

**Tamins, ****_Graubünden_****, World´s Edge Mountains**

Mobob, War chief of the Bonebender Orc Tribe, smelled victory in the air. The resistance of the strange _humie_ village began to weaken. He still did not comprehend how the village or better the several close-lying villages, had been erected in the three month since the tribe had last travelled through this region of the Big Mountains.  
>But a lone Orc should not question the gift given to them by Mork. The humies seemed to be some offspring of the Imperials, considering their language, but they were less problematic than the Emprahs tribesmen.<br>There was no wall protecting the houses, no wizards, no witches, no cannons,,, nothing. While they were unusually well-equipped with pistols and muskets, this had been the only reason the humies still held about 2 dozen houses in the center village. But now the fire had become more sporadic and in the last two days, Mobob and his Orcs, Gobos and other fighters had finally fought against defenders wielding axes. Their ammunition seemed to be nearly used up. He could already taste the sweet aroma of victory and pillage in his mouth.

"Reddy yousef fo the stormin!"

With pleasure Mobob saw his densely packed fighters, not some of the usual mob Orcs produced! He was a big warleader, so moshers joined his cause often. Soon it would be over.

Urs Zuralmen looked at his wife Uta. They were 2 of the 700 survivors out of 1200, but their luck seemed to have run out as well as their ammo. They had only 2 magazines for every fire weapon left. It was doubtful, if they could beat back another full assault by these creatures outside. In the first days, the people of Tamins, Reichenau and the other thorps had been able to trade space for life. Most of their hurtful losses had been incurred during the first surprise assault.  
>In the 14 days since the siege began, the Swiss retreated step by step, inflicting losses on the Orcs, but now the 700 were surrounded in a few densely filled houses, water and food nearly as empty as the ammunition reserves. For some moments, the mood had been high again, when Germany answered their frantic call for help. That was until Tamins found out how far away Germany now was and they, like the Germans, were in a whole new world. It was a big if, if the Germans or the Empire would reach them before everything was over.<p>

"Uta, love, the Orcs are ready for a new assault..."

"Urs, if what the Germans told us is correct, it is better if we are not alive when the Orcs come in. Keep a bullet back, I will too."

"Uta..." Urs broke of, nodded, kissed Uta fiercely and readied himself for his last fight in this life.

**Transall C-160 Course 060, speed 300 knots**

Paul Müller was amazed - he was a Paratrooper, he was going into Battle and he was about to do it jumping from a plane.  
>While this might sound funny, considering what portfolio the <em>Fallschirmjäger<em> had, for many years Paratroopers got into Battle mostly by Helicopter or conventional means as jumping from planes was dangerous and there was always a period of disorganization until all troopers would have ditched their chutes, readied their weapons and meet their assigned Platoons.

The Problem was that some of their CH53 helis were en route to the beleaguered Swiss remnant, some down for maintenance or lack of parts. The lack of specific spare parts was a major issue for the Armed Forces, with the German industry frantically retooling lines to produce parts Germany got from foreign sources before the Weltensprung. In the case of the CH53, it was a bit ironic that the missing parts were of the few foreign ones built into the helicopters - the German _Sea_ _Stallions_ had been built in license with mostly German materials. But whatever the case, the Fallschirmjäger had to do it the old way until the helis were back.

Any suggestion of driving there, the distance between Seedorf and Papenburg was not that big, was squashed immediately - that would do no good for the next round of budgets.

So for once they would jump into battle and get the "Opas" (Grandpas) of the _Landwehr_ out of the tight spot they found themselves in. Typical part time soldiers, having problems with a few sword-wielding maniacs.

But now the Pros were on their way to get them out. 


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi! Since here in Germany we have two Christmas holidays, an update is in order. Commander Danno, fear not there is a lot more to come and I will reduce the number of updates over time. so simply enjoy this short rush._

**Battlefield near Mitting**

Ralf Winkler and the other medics had gone forward to the ditch as soon as the screaming started. Their thinking was still too much in the civilian medic mode to check for danger to themselves first.  
>The guys in the middle of the line were a total loss, the checks for them were easy. For the rest of the Soldiers they were seized by pains which showed no obvious reason, so no quick remedy presented itself.<br>The group broke up in order to search for Soldiers which they could treat and worked themselves towards the flanks of the 1st Platoons lines. Shortly before the machine guns position Ralf found a riflemen who in his cramps had obviously broken his leg in two places-the way the leg was placed left few doubts about that.  
>Not surprisingly shock had set in, so immediate treatment was called for. He attached a cuff to an arm to block the Veins enough to get a needle in a vein on the back side of a hand. While he put down his backpack to look for the infusion bottle he heard a rather strange sound and looked to its source.<br>The machine gunner had been in the process of changing the totally overheated barrel, assisted by his number two. This had occupied them enough that they missed the infiltration of a group of scantily clad women which were just hacking his fellow soldiers into tiny bits.

Time seemed to slow down to a trickle so he could notice the leather straps holding various knives in place, the Eyes with strangely dilated pupils, the open mouths with spittle everywhere. He could later never explain how the Uzi found it`s way into his hand or the muzzle in the right direction.  
>The Uzi always had a bad rep for being inaccurate and for going off when dropped, but here it was what the Doctor ordered - provided it was Doctor Lektor.<br>As he started to fire when on one knee the muzzle climb did not just decorate the Sky immediately and most of the 30 rounds in the Magazine found a new home in one of the 5 Hags which were intend on butcher the German line as long as it was out on the Spell. That they were bunched up inside the ditch helped with that.  
>As the Hags were drugged to near-burnout one had not realized yet that it was dead already and tried to stab the medic through the chest. Ralf half turned to evade the trust, deflected the wrist with his free hand and in the same movement stabbed the empty SMG at the ugly face above him.<br>The Witch could not stop that as even the most drugged out mind could not make the shattered shoulder of that arm work.  
>The hot Barrel emitted a hissing sound and the Women dropped like if hit with a hammer. Ralf refused to look at the empty eye socket, took a deep breath and fell back on his training best as he could and tried to save lives instead of taking them.<p>

Wolfgang Böhler had indeed found a much more interesting Target for his rifle: A rather strange-looking bolt thrower. A crew served weapon, he had seen it shooting 6 long bolts towards the German lines in rapid succession, it was now rewound and reloaded. He measured the height of the upper Body of the supposed leader against the markings in his Scope, gaining the range from that, adjusted for the practically nonexistent wind.  
>He aimed for the middle of the breast and took up the pressure on the trigger. The shot, when it came, was a surprise, like all good shots.<br>The 7 mm Remington Magnum may have a smaller Caliber than the 7,62 of the G3 rifles but somewhat more energy and a much flatter trajectory.  
>When the bullet hit a small steel ball at the tip was pushed back into the body and peeled 4 preformed segments of the bullet back like razor sharp banana peels. Expanded to several times its former diameter it not just destroyed the heart of the Elf, but pushed out most organs inside the upper chest through the back side.<br>Wolfgang saw to his amazement that the rest of the crew continued loading and aiming as if nothing had happened. He was about to kill the next guy when a better thought presented itself.  
>Waiting until the metal crosspiece was at maximum tension he directed the next shot at the bow itself. This promptly snapped in two and the resulting recoil turned the bolt thrower into the crew.<br>Wolfgang smiled in a way that nobody could take for humour and scanned for new targets.

Jasla was amazed to be still alive. She had successfully cast a rather difficult spell at a lethal foe, had achieved immediate success and kept it going for quite some time now. Still that had not been enough as the Cold One Knights had been massacred and she was afraid that she would not be welcome back at the Druchii lines because of that.  
>She had to keep up the spell no matter what, the consequences of not doing so were probably deadly even faster. Still she tried to make herself less of a target but still keep the ditch in sight.<br>While she was moving slowly around her foot found the cow patty she had avoided before, making her stumble.  
>This was enough to break her concentration, which was not a good thing at such a difficult spell.<br>She went down with what seemed to be a Grand Mal epileptic seizure.

Lt. Frediksen was _very_ happy as the cramps and pains that had wrecked his body receded. They had come from nowhere and without warning and now had vanished like they came.  
>He took a second to organize himself and was not happy with what he saw: In the middle of his line a lot of dead Dinosaur-looking beasties were in his line of fire and they had killed 4 of his soldiers before being properly dead.<p>

At the right flank the machine gun crew and probably one more rifleman had been butchered and the medics were looking after another one. Two of the medics came over.

"Hey Herr Lt. Sorry to bother you, but can you spare a soldier for a stretcher party, we have too many injured as it is and…"

"Meier, go with Winkler and get back to the Platoon when you drop them. And Winkler: Good job on those furies, you saved our bacon there."  
>He next checked weather his Sergeant had detailed a new Crew for the machine gun (yes) and if the enemy was advancing on his position again (also yes). The latter was taken care of with a quick salvo from the left machine gun and some of the better-off riflemen.<br>Then he remembered that you are supposed to fix your opponent on the front and attack the flanks. Checking again he saw that this was unlikely to work on his left side, but detailed 4 men to check a perpendicular ditch on the right. Few moments later some grenade explosions and some rapid shooting told him that this precaution paid off.

Frediksen´s wireless operator tried to get his attention while he looked for the group of soldiers he sent to return when the screaming started. Looking around for the cause he could see nothing immediately until he saw up.  
>What he saw then filled him with terror: An impossibly large, fast Black Dragon who breathed a black cloud in the direction of the right flank which had seen so much hammering already. The cloud obscured the new Machine gun team, the returned squad and one of the medics.<br>When it dissipated enough to see the victims again it was only too obvious that they were dead.  
>With helpless fascination Frediksen watched as the Dragon made a curve to finish the job.<p>

**Phönix 64**

The Pilot of the MD902 Helicopter was livid. He had seen the Dragon coming, but he had no weapons to do anything about it. He had contacted the air force, but any fighter was out by 10 Minutes. He then tried to raise the Landwehr and had reached their Captain, but they were unable to raise the Platoon in the field.  
>Now he had to watch helplessly as the Dragon massacred the soldiers below. He had to do something about it now - he simply could just not bear to watch.<br>Asking his Observer to call the Army again he aimed his helicopter squarely at his opponent and pushed the column all forward while twisting the power to max.  
>Whatever happened now, he would not have to see the killing.<p>

**Black Dragon, Mitting Battlefield**

Human Pilots usually are thought to have an attitude problem, or to put it in another way, being arrogant to boot. This does not exactly get any better when it is applied to a Dark Elf who is arrogant by definition-they think of themselves as superior of course.  
>When the Dragon Rider saw the Infantry flounder back and forth like small figures on a green tablecloth it just reinforced this notion, especially as he saw he had to save the foolish Corsairs from defeat.<br>His first approach had not been optimal, but his second one would pass the German line in one go. They could either run and be massacred by the Corsairs or be killed by him.

He had just lined up the Ditch when he saw his Dragon turn as much as the reigns allowed for. Looking in the same direction he saw a flying machine which looked a lot like a dwarf gyrocopter coming his direction and very fast.  
>He changed course without conscious thought and avoided the enemy by very few meters, enough that he felt a stream of hot air passing him by.<br>It would have been quite a task from keeping his Dragon from chasing the machine, but he did not even try. This was a far more interesting fight then poisoning some footsloggers!  
>The machine dropped height until it was close to the ground and then started zigg-zagging like mad, occasionally lifting to avoid obstacles on the ground.<br>By cutting corners he got closer and closer and saw his beast already preparing the lethal breath when the pseudo-gyrocopter rapidly gained height.  
>In the background the Rider saw some of the Horseless carriages coming which just slowed as they saw his might.<br>He followed upwards and hoped to get in range now. In order to rise his Dragon both slowed down and reared up, exposing his breast and Belly.

Captain Martensen was still looking at the Dragon in awe. Even compared to some of the biggest planes he knew the Beast had a lethal magnificence which captured the Mind.  
>Still this did not keep him from giving the needed order: "Fire!"<p>

First to fire were two MG3 which were mounted on top of the Cabs of his Trucks. Against fast planes this would have been close to useless, but the Dragon was very close and comparatively slow. Tracers connected the guns and their target, but seemed to have little effect. Dragon Skin is very resistant as it had to keep, among other things, the Wings together against the stress of flying.  
>Much later German scientists, studying the dead creature, would find Carbon Nanotubes in the Dragon`s skin and bones, explaining part of their legendary resilience. Whatever had formed them like that, would remain unexplained far longer.<br>This did not stop all the rounds, but at present the effect was like shooting .22 Caliber rounds at a bull. Lethal in the long run, but presently just driving him mad.

The gunners saw this and had no choice but to keep the tracer stream as best as they could on their screaming Target and hope for the best. When the Dragon cleared the line between it and the trucks cab something totally different joined the fight.  
>How it came to a lowly Landwehr company was the matter of much speculation. There was a rumour that the Ordnance warrant did not deny<p>

**Transall C-160, close to the Battlefield**

One of the consequences of the Weltensprung was the absence of the GPS network, something many people sorely missed only when it was gone. Many people had to relearn readying maps and orienting themselves by them-one of them the Pilot of the Transall.  
>He tended to trust the INS navigation system a little too much, even when it tended to "drift". The fact that the Frisian Cost, and the new one in the West, is rather featureless did not help these matters at all.<br>He counted the roads and major drainage ditches and matched them to his maps. When this seemed to agree to his INS data he took over the helm and brought the Plane into course, speed and height for the drop.

Paul Müller watched the ramp of the Plane drop and got the "gogogo" soon thereafter. Due to the long training he was already running for the ramp before he consciously heard the command.  
>When he went over the lid he had to take care of making sure the chute aligned correctly-only when that happened he had the chance to look around.<br>To his horror he saw that the drop was very close to a large group of "sword wielding maniacs"-this was going to hurt badly.

Captain Martensen looked at the Parachute deployment and was in shock: How could anybody be so stupid and deploy the Fallschirmjäger so close to the battle. The Parachutists would need time to prepare, but here they would not get it.  
>If nothing happened, and soon, then this would turn into a major disaster.<p>

Irglier was no longer unhappy, livid or anything else, he was amazed. Amazed at the flying machine which passed close to his position, amazed at the men jumping out of it and dropping slowly by parachute and amazed at the German stupidity.  
>If the enemy soldiers were indeed landing where they looked like he could engage them in hand-to-hand combat and no other unit were likely to fire into this.<br>From this combat he could either take hostages and go or even consolidate into the other Germans if they were too close in order to help.

He gave the necessary orders to his officers and saw in their faces that this was what they needed, the despair which had begun to creep in their minds was gone - this was where he could turn the battle and avenge their hurts at the enemy.  
>The Dark Elves aligned their troops with the line of dropping Paratroopers, still trying to keep as low as possible.<p>

Captain Martensen was torn between two equally bad choices: He could stay in place and try to do battle for there, it would be comparatively free of losses to his Company but would do not much good as the battle would be more than half a Kilometer away.  
>An all out assault against a numerically superior foe who could do real damage at closer ranges would ask for better trained soldiers who practiced assaults more regularly-it takes a lot of training to make men run directly into danger with any chance for few losses.<br>His men had left the Bundeswehr up to 20 years ago and while they had some training together it was not the kind which would breed the mindless following of orders which would make good cannon fodder aka true assault troops.

Still Martensen had a duty and called his Platoon leaders: " Meine Herren, we have no choice, we have to assault these assholes. Keep the autocannon back for fire support. As for the rest, we advance on my mark."  
>When he got the "readies" back he started the assault the only way he knew which might make these old soldiers follow-taking the lead. He resolved not to look back to check and started the sprint for the spot he had picked.<p>

If there is something faster than light in the Warhammer Universe it has not yet been discovered by German scientists, but rumours and bad news were definitely a candidate.  
>The soldiers of the 31st Company were "old" and compared to 20-something soldiers short on breath. But they were also fathers and uncles and far too many had seen the remains of the Martensen children, or at least had heard of them.<br>The problem was not getting the assault stated, the problem for the Leutnant would be stopping it.

Lt Frediksen was running towards the "pointy ears" as fast as his legs would carry him. Any sense of tactics was gone in the burst of emotion which had engulfed him. In his case it was also a relief from his perceived failures in the first engagements.  
>He did not recognize when he and his men started singing, screaming the <em>Wildgänse<em> song - it did not matter anyway. _Wildgänse rauschen durch die Nacht, mit schrillem Schrei nach Norden... (Wild Geese rush through the night, with shrill cry northward) _  
>He could see the Dark Elves getting up from their concealment and the rearmost ones orienting themselves in his direction. So much the better, his most fond wish was to close with them and KILL. <em>...Habt Acht, die Welt ist voller Morden (Take care, the World is full of killing)<em>

All of sudden there was a shock which was so unexpected that it stopped him in tracks-looking around for the magic user attacking him. He nearly started to laugh when he found he and a lot of other soldiers were stopped by an "electric fence" meant to contain cattle.  
>As this gave him and the part of his unit alignment he decided to do his battle from here, the distance was not too bad.<br>Not bothering too much with directing his unit he started to pick targets and to dispose of them as quickly as possible. The tearing sound to his right showed him that at least one machine gun team had joined in.  
>Still firing single shots he went through his first magazine quickly, then fumbled in a new one and looked for new targets. <em>Wir sind wie ihr eine graues Heer und fahr´n in Deutschlands Namen... We are like you a grey-clothed host, and march in Germany´s (originally: the Kaisers) name...<em>  
>The Corsair which all of a sudden filled his sight was just another target and went down, but then he felt a burn on his right arm. Looking there he saw a bloody furrow in his right Biceps, obviously left by a crossbow bolt.<br>Since the still could move the arm he resumed firing but wondered why the light all of a sudden seemed so bright.  
>He did not see the muskus running down his face or realized that he had to labour harder to breathe. <em>... singt uns im Herbst ein Amen (sing for us in fall an Amen)<em>  
>Between the more accurate shooting of Frediksens unit and the wild bursts by the rest of the maniacs they managed to get the Dark Elves attention just fine.<p>

Paul Müller was so amazed at the unexpected sight of the "Opas" assaulting the Dark Elves that his landing became the classic "three point landing"-toes, Knees and Nose.  
>He still released his parachute and then scrambled to retrieve his G36 rifle from its bag so he could defend himself.<br>When he finally had it out he got it on his shoulder just in time to shoot a sword wielding fury. He was unhappily surprised when it took 2 3-round bursts to stop her - the thin witch did not look so tough.  
>Thank God, there were not to many Elves shoot andor assaulting his position at the moment, they were too busy getting ripped a new one by the Landwehr for that.  
>More and more of his comrades readied themselves and stared to fire on the "pointy ears". Nobody tried to find his unit-defending themselves was much more important.<br>Besides the rifle fire some of the Fallschirmjäger fired their Grenade Pistols at any concentration of Elves. Fragments and Overpressure meant that there were few survivors.  
>When he heard the first machine gun joining the fight from his side he started to hope that he could survive the fight.<br>How he would live down being rescued by the "old Men" from the Landwehr was a totally different matter.

Irglier felt exhausted about the emotional roller coaster ride this battle subjected him to. First the failed assaults, then the renewed hope of the misplaced drop and now even that had failed and his line was under fire from two sides.  
>At least this time he was no longer so outranged, he could fire back or assault without his units being wiped out before they even saw the enemy.<br>But losses mounted at a staggering rate. And even now that the humans were in range-they usually dropped to the ground to fire and presented very small targets. Still they were able to keep a murderous fire going while prone, something his Corsairs were unable to.  
>They had to charge or shoot standing up which made them much bigger targets. This, the better German rate of fire and the fact the Elves had not yet learned not to bunch up made for a very lopsided loss ratio.<p>

He started to look for his sorcerers for some heavy duty firepower, amazed that they had not yet started to do their job, when he came to a small lump of trees. The little cover they gave was enough to shield from the worst of the German fire.  
>He was greeted by – nothing. Finally he found 5 bodies, most of his magicians, all with gaping Chest wounds or a mostly missing head. He looked around not could see anything which might be the cause. In the far distance he could see the farms so much of the fighting was about.<br>He suddenly saw a flash high up on one of the barns.  
>Surprised he jerked back, only to see the head of his adjutant explode like a ripe tomato, a bone splinter scratching his jaw.<br>He dropped immediately to the ground and crawled to the other side of the trees, while one of his arms men was killed by the unseen marksman as well.  
>This was what finally showed him that it was high time to go.<p>

He gathered his entourage and wanted to run to the coast when finally another sorceress emerged from hiding. "Going for the boats, Mylord? Without taking your precious crew with you?"  
>"If we want to have any chance at escaping this hell, then they have to cover our backs. I think it is better not to ask them."<br>" How utterly disloyal of you - just as I would have done. If you protect me I may be able to help."  
>"Done."<br>Quickly the party left for the shore.

Lt Frediksen cursed at his increasingly clumsy hand which failed to find the next Magazine in his belt. When he chanced to look away from his line of fire he was surprised to find that there was no more ammo to be had.  
>When he looked up again a shadow was already close to his position. He tried to spring to his feet, just in order to stumble clumsily. He was still trying to find his balance when a hand steadied him on his shoulder.<br>"It`s ok mate, cool off."  
>He realised then that the Paratroops had reached his line. Just when he wanted to get his bearings again the world went black.<p>

**Battlefiel Mitting**

  
>Ralf Winkler was in a daze. His mind had been numbed by near total exhaustion, a close encounter with death and the horror of the farmhouse. He went back to what he trusted, his experience and training and worked through his tasks without much conscious thinking.<br>When he went back to the drop off point with his latest "customer" he was greeted by a sight he hoped never to see again in his life. Three inflatable tents had been erected and a doctor was screening all wounded before indicating the tent the patient was to be put to.  
>The walking wounded went into one, the urgent cases into the middle tent.<br>His patient had a horrible head injury with very shallow breathing and so he was not surprised that he was directed at the third tent.  
>It was filled with quiet, barely breathing wounded, a nurse administrating morphine injections and a priest.<br>Not giving every patient the best care they could get was going against everything Ralf stood for –and everybody else here - but with limited resources they could only separate the cases which had good hopes with fast treatment from those who would probably not make it with or without help.  
>This tent was for the dying.<br>Triage was a horror - but a necessary one now.  
>The Nurse looked up when he and his Co-Medic entered the tent. "Oh God, not another one. Whats happening out there? Are we loosing?"<br>"From what I could see - no, we are winning. From what I saw earlier you _really_ do not want to survive loosing with these guys."

He went out again and drove the Unimog back to the battlefield. He was flagged down close to a partially flattened fence. The Sergeant pointed him to a group of soldiers "Over there, they got the Lt. somehow. He has cramps and is breathing hard."  
>Winkler gathered his backpack and scanned his next patient. White clammy skin, foam in the mouth, blood and mucus running from the Nose and the muscles he could see were hard as stone.<br>This was already the second time today he had seen this - the Corsairs had poisoned their bolts so that even scratches would kill eventually.  
>This was a sure killer and all he could do was prolong... Wait, one-<br>The next thing his Co-Medic was seeing was Ralf sprinting back to the Unimog and started rummaging.  
>He came back with a olive green cloth bag he hurriedly unpacked.<br>"Ralf what are you doing with the NBC pack? Are you sure? Are you out of it?"  
>Meanwhile Winkler had unpacked in Injector and put it against the Lt. leg.<br>After a second he triggered the injector which violently shot Atropine into the muscles of the dying man. "Ralf, I hope you know what you are doing, if you are wrong the Atropine will kill him."  
>"He would die anyway. The stuff the <em>gottverdammte Spitzohren<em> put on their bolts is potent - now he has at least a chance. There are already too many dead. Shut up and pass the Oxygen."

The doctor performing the triage did not look up from the last wounded when the Ambulance approached again. He just asked over the shoulder about the Patient.  
>"Unconscious, having some breathing difficulties, circulation stable but week - he got one of the poisoned bolts. We gave him Atropine and it seems to help. Middle tent doc?"<br>No doctor likes to hear the diagnosis from his helpers, so he was about to retort angrily when he really saw the medics for the first time since the battle begun.  
>They stared back at him totally unafraid, what they had gone through shifted their perception about "bad" considerably and he was no longer on the list.<br>"Middle tent it is then."  
>"Thanks doc, we are on our way then…"<p>

Captain Martensen saw that the fighting was winding down and so did he. As long as the battle was in high pitch adrenaline had kept him up, but now he felt old beyond his years.  
>The Paratroopers had used the time his men had bought at such price well and organized themselves enough to form an assault.<br>The Dark Elves were already decimated and with few leaders which had not fled, they could not mount real resistance either. Some of them had charged the riflemen, some tried to hide and to strike from a concealed position, but the result was the same in the end.  
>Just when he looked a Soldier fired his Grenade Pistol into a tree, the detonation immediately removed all leaves.<br>Among the rotten branches tumbling down was a body dropping bonelessly to the ground. "See? Told you there was an asshole up there!" he quipped.  
>Shaking his head Martensen looked for the CO of the Paratroopers - there was a battle to wrap up.<p>

**Small Police Cutter W3 Sea of Claws**

The crew of the Police Cutter W3 was at Sea again. Shorty after the beginning of their patrol command had contacted them and told them to look for any unusual contacts. They had been wondering at that until monitoring the Wireless showed them a Battle happening, about the last thing they had expected.  
>Quickly they distributed what long arms were in their lockers then they resumed the patrolling with a less bored attitude. Currently they approached a group of 3 contacts which were not moving at all, this surely counted as unusual.<br>Sometime later they found that the Radar blips were the Galleons that they had met the day before, but they were low in the water and they could see nobody on deck.  
>Repeated calling got no answers, so they decided to go around the ships before boarding or calling for help. When they rounded the stern of the lead Galleon the mate noticed rust strips running down from the back door of the Stern Gallery. <em>Wait, wooden ships do not rust!<em>  
>With this thought his brain reprocessed the visual input and also noted the red colour in the Water below the "rust stain", which could only be blood.<p>

It was probably not the most clever tactical decision in their lives, but the crew still boarded the Galleon, much too shocked to think long about possible dangers.  
>They did not find anything dangerous to their bodies, their minds were a different story. The crews of the ships had been killed in a way which could not be described as slaughter, that would have been too nice. Worse was the situation of the 3 survivors they found among the dead. If - if they could be stabilized, no one wanted to presume on their mental state.<p>

When the boarding party staggered back on board their ship, they were greeted by the boatswain: "Skipper, please have a look, I have a series of intermittent radar contacts. When I extrapolate their course they come from here, about two hours ago."

They referred the problem back to Command who told them to guard the Galleons, others would take care of the contacts.

**Battlefield Mitting**

  
>And fresh for the new year, here comes the first update for 2013. Enjoy!<p>

A couple of questions gave Captain Martensen the direction to the CO of the Paratroopers, an fit and trim looking Officer who nursed what appeared to be a busted ankle. He stopped himself from saluting, this would show the Captain to enemy marksmen and introduced himself.  
>"Captain Martensen, 31st Landwehr at your service. Let me be the first to say this: The <em>Trallala <em>driver should really buy new glasses."  
>"Captain von der Marwitz, thanks for the assist, we will never forget that."<br>They arranged for the mop-up of the battle, which mostly consisted of a line of riflemen combing the surroundings of survivors-theirs and the "Spitzohren".  
>As the Landwehr was mostly out of ammo their part of the battle was mostly done and they helped with carrying the stretchers back to the drop of point.<br>By unspoken consent they did not escort the few prisoners-that could have led to needless repercussions. "Shot while trying to escape" had a bad reputation in Germany.

Ralf Winkler also went back to the tents again to find that by now so many ambulances arrived that Triage was no longer necessary. The doctor saw them coming back and found the time to address them in private: "First off, I still do the diagnosis around here. Second, you were right-your Lieutenant will live and that is mostly thanks to you. A gutsy decision on the atropine! Third - you look like shit and I have 3 leg injuries which should go to the Leer hospital. Can you do that?"

A short call by the Wireless to their command showed them that they could indeed do that, so they took their Unimog to the road and headed to the Main roads, passing what seemed like hundreds of "blue light" vehicles on the way.

Much later that day, Meier Shipyards, Papenburg

"Ok, if nobody has to add anything, this concludes the "postmortem" .Captain Martensens voice left no doubt that he did not wish any additions.  
>"Then let us have a minute of silence for the fallen comrades."<br>Five Minutes later everybody had a beer in his hand and the Captain raised his Stein -"to absent Friends!"  
>"Ok folks one last thing for the evening, then we go home. I am damned proud of all of you! We met the enemy and got the job done. I can quote Captain von der Marwitz: <em>I am alive as you were there. And a lot of other people are the same. <em>I do not think that we need more accolade then that.  
>Dismissed."<p>

The singing started in the back row but catched on immediately:

Ich hatt' einen Kameraden,  
>Einen bessern findst du nit.<br>Die Trommel schlug zum Streite,  
>Er ging an meiner Seite<br>In gleichem Schritt und Tritt.  
>Eine Kugel kam geflogen:<br>Gilt's mir oder gilt es dir?  
>Sie hat ihn weggerissen,<br>Er liegt zu meinen Füßen  
>Als wär's ein Stück von mir.<br>Will mir die Hand noch reichen,  
>Derweil ich eben lad'.<br>"Kann dir die Hand nicht geben,  
>Bleib du im ew'gen Leben<br>Mein guter Kamerad!"

(I once had a comrade,  
>you won't find a better one.<br>The drum was rolling for battle,  
>he was marching by my side<br>in the same pace and stride.  
>A bullet flew towards us<br>meant for you or for me?  
>It did tear him away,<br>he lies at my feet  
>like he was a part of me.<br>He wants to reach his hand to me,  
>while I'm just reloading my gun.<br>"Can't give you my hand for now,  
>you rest in eternal life<br>My good comrade!")

When everybody filed out Ralf Winkler stopped by him: "Captain, if it is all the same to you, I`ll visit Jan-Erics wife. Somebody needs to break her the news."

"If you want to do it, by all means. But why not leave it to the Chaplain?"

"First off, Jan-Eric was an agnostic and his widow is too. Our Chaplain will not have them on radar and they won`t have that much to say to each other. Second, Jan-Eric was mine long before he was your man and third both are my friends-I cannot give this to others. I do not want to do this, I have to do it."

"All right you have my blessings. Actually, thank you, one less visit. Ok Captain, we see each other Wednesday for the clear-up."

Helga Meier was a frustrated women. She was with the "Norddeutsche Rundfunk" and needed to have pictures and info about the Battle of Papenburg as it was already called.  
>Unfortunately she had come much too late for any fighting and the German army was very low on any info as usual. Like all other journalists she was told to attend après conference the next day and then was told to get lost.<br>Currently she cruised the streets of Papenburg with her Cameraman in the hopes to find anybody who could give her an interesting morsel of info.  
>Then she saw a car parked in front of a house with a "Landwehr" sticker on it. "No risk, no fun!"<p>

Ralf met his Wife in front of the yard. After a minute or so of being silent in each other's arms Ralf asked his wife if she could drive the car.  
>"Yes, of course, we just have to put my bike into the trunk. But what happened to your voice?"<p>

"Too much puking, too much screaming. Maybe a whiff of Dragons Breath. Should be better in a couple of days, according to our throat specialist. We have to drive to Jan-Eric first before we can go home."  
>"Is he coming with us?"<br>"No."  
>"Is he in hospital?"<br>"No..." Ralf wanted to say something more, but he simply could not.  
>"Oh my God!"<p>

Somewhat later Ralf was sitting in the living room of his former Co-Medic and seemed to listen to the sobs and rant of Jan-Erics Widow. He was in a daze, still not really comprehending that he was alive, survivors guilt as he was alive and others were not, when one of the fragments registered.  
>It took him a while to recognize the voice he heard as his own as it had deteriorated further.<p>

"No, Jan-Eric did not die because he wanted to play Soldier. Jan-Eric died because he wanted to help and because the most sadistic bunch of killers you can imagine decided that torturing and killing in Germany is a good way to spend their time.  
>Some hours ago I loaded a flayed alive Child into my ambulance. Jan-Eric and all the others put their lives at risk so that there would not be more of them.<br>This is what we do, we can no longer ask others to do it for us. We used to have allies who did the dirty work for us and whom we could despise for that - we no longer can here. Our Big Brother is gone. If we do not defend ourselves, nobody will and many more will die. Nobody of us asks for the risks, but we have to take them."

Either it was what he said, or the way he said it as by that point he sounded like dried leaves turned by skeletal hands, but Jan-Eric`s Widow at last relented.  
>After offering their help he could leave the house finally to get home and rest.<br>He just left the garden when a strong light showed in his face.

"Helga Meier from the NDR. Can you tell us anything about today`s battle?"  
>His first instinct was to tell that Vulture to get lost-then Ralf got the Idea that there were more ways to fight Druchii than just bullets.<br>"Yes, I was at the battle. I just had to tell the Widow of a good friend that he will not come again, ever. And I can tell you the same thing I told her…"

**Tamins, World´s Edge Mountains**

Mobob liked what he heard more than could see. The first of the few houses still held by the humies was being _cleaned out_. His moshers had finally gained entry there. Like any battlefield, it was loud and so the Warchief was a bit surprised when he heard music. Humie music at that! His Reikspiel was good enough to get the gist of it.

_Argonnerwald um Mitternacht, ein Pionier..._

Mobob had no inkling where this Argonne Forest could be, but it seemed that the humies played it to bolster their morale. He snorted, no music would save them, it was only a matter of time.

**"Bergsteiger 1", over the World´s Edge Mountains, Speed 290 km/h**

With the Weltensprung, Germany was now forced to overhaul the whole Bundeswehr. One such thing was the return from NATO-standard units (knots, feet) to the old Luftwaffe-standard (kilometer, meter) and the new recruits would not learn the NATO wireless slang, but the German one. The only thing kept from the NATO was "Bandits" (Banditen in German) for enemy planes, since this world had no comparable group for the German term as far as Germany knew.

It pleased Colonel Crüwell that he would open the attack like his ancestors did: With a "Wir machen Pauke-Pauke!"

It was bit cliched due to the "Apocalypse now" movie, but since they would fight against Orcs, who had problems with morale according to the books, Crüwell´s helicopter force was equipped with high-grade speakers.

When they had reached "Little Switzerland", Kurt directly recognized the situation. They were late, but not too late. So the Colonel gave order to start playing the recorded songs for the first attack run. Unlike the US war movie, Crüwell, due to having Sappers and Gebirgsjäger as ground forces with him, started with the "hymn" of the Sappers, the _Argonnerwald Marsch_ in a long version with all stanzas. The Hinds were already well away from the Sea Stallions due to their higher top speed, but that was part of the plan. The attack helis would clear the area first.

Coming in low, speakers saturating the air with the old army song, hardpoints brimming with guns and cannon pods, the gunners just waited for Crüwell´s order.

Colonel Crüwell was amazed by the effect of the music. It seemed that the volume of the playing march drowned out most of their engine noise. For the moment the Orcs simply were unaware that their death was coming closer and closer.

He would use this gift: "Feuer frei!" Crüwell pressed the fire button in unison with his crews.

From one second to the other Mobob became shocked as one of his best mosher groups suddenly died in a wave of explosions and gore. Some were literally ripped to pieces flying through the air. A swath of destruction was being ripped through his forces.

It was only then, frantically searching for the reason, that Mobob saw the flying creatures. No, no creatures, something like the Dwarf gyrocopters! But this could not be Dwarfs! Who by Mork could this be?

The first run had been a great success and the Colonel ordered a turn-around for the second go. Kurt Crüwell had read the Warhammer books about Orcs before lift off and was cautious about Orc magic power, the great equalizer here, as Germany already learned the hard way.

So with no Geneva Convention in force and most possible enemies barbarous mobs, Crüwell thought about his men and women first. Bergsteiger 5 and 6 had a different weapon outload than the other four Hinds. Using the momentary disruption in the Orc forces, Kurt ordered a "broadside" on the Orcs by all Hinds. Now the difference became clear as among the rain of steel phosphorous ammunition was intermixed. A true firestorm tore through the Orcs, disrupting the Shamans try to conjure up counter magic.

Mobob had screamed at his nearest Shamans to do something against the humie gyrocopters. But this second strafing run forced Mobob to dive for cover, from where he saw with unbelieving eyes what happened to his forces and tribe.

One of the machines roared overhead and the Warchief threw his Morningstar against the heli, for it only to bounce off the thick hide of the Hind. Not for nothing the Russian pilots had nicknamed the helicopter "Flying Tank".

It wasn´t planned by the German force, but it was at this moment that Mobob heard one other stanza of the march, due to Bergsteiger 1 being directly above him. And the Warchief felt mocked by the humies.

_Argonnerwald, Argonnerwald, ein stiller Friedhof wirst du bald...(Argonne Forest, Argonne Forest, a silent gravyard you´ll be soon)_

For a moment, Mobob got a little hope back as his last intact catapult fired and hit one of the gyrocopters, but it was short lived. As his morningstar, the shot bounced off harmlessly. This was the last straw.

The morale of the Orcs broke down and a wild flight began, while the Warchief tried to organize some semblance of leadership.

**Bretonnian-occupied Wasteland**

It was a simple, pure triumph march for the forces of his most gallantly King of the Old World. No Marienburg forces defended anywhere. The King´s army winning more and more miles of the greedy moneygrubbers in the port city. The nobility of Bretonnia was pleased, it had been a milk run, even if there had been no chances to win glory for King and Lady in battle.  
>Baron Guy de Aramie, one of the more progressive nobles in Bretonnia took his looking glass and observed the vanguard which had crossed the Reik. At least the Bretonnians thought it had to be the Reik, even if the river´s position was totally off. But then again, this could be a side effect of the strange light months ago. Nevertheless, this would not stop the most honourable Army in the whole world. Nothing could stand against the champions of the Lady. As could be seen here, the Bretonnian troops were already around 150 miles deep in the Wasteland.<p>

**close to the eastern bank of the Reik**

Eji Metehito was rather famous in his hometown as a master tracker and huntsman. Little surprise, that he and several other specialists were chosen by the Daimyo assembly in Kagoshima to help extend the territory of Nippon.  
>While the Daimyos were still unsure how far the cooperation with the strange Germans should go, in one thing both went conform: Nippon should extend her borders to the Reik. There were many good reasons to do so. At the moment this could not go beyond some symbolic deeds, but simply making others aware that the land was taken, no matter how loosely, would help.<p>

So Eji had been underway for one and a half weeks, together with three helpers from the peasants levy, erecting sign posts and raising the Kyokujitsuki, the Rising-Sun-Flag of Nippon at strategic positions along his part of the Reik bank. It had been a strange voyage to the Reik. Considering that the Reik was quite a distance away from the core of stranded Nippon, the Germans had helped them. Several of their flying contraptions he now knew being Helicopters, had transported them, their horses and supplies within hours to the river. He still marvelled about the quality of the paintings they called photos, he´d been given for better orientation.

After doing their work, the 4 men had begun the trek back to civilisation, when Eji´s schooled ears recognized the sound of a group of people. Slowly stalking closer to the river, staying hidden in the undergrowth and between the trees, Eji pulled out his Zeiss binocular, a gift given to all the nipponese groups going to the river.  
>The binocular was light years ahead in sight power and quality from the looking glasses he was accustomed to. Eji was actually very happy that the Doitsu helped them, if their binoculars were so good, he looked forward to see more of their products. By the kami, their part of Nippon was ripped away from it´s proper place, making them vulnerable. Eji was thankful for any help they got.<br>Correcting the focus, Eji saw 12 men at the river bank and on the other side a whole army! What the...  
>And more, while the Nipponese did not understand Breton, the banner post they erected, with a purple flag showing stylized flowers, showed they wanted to take the land which now belonged to the Chrysanthemum Realm! This could not stand, but the foreigners were too strong.<br>Eji and his men took off as fast as they could. This news had to reach Kagoshima as soon as possible.

**Falkenberg, Sweden, Earth**

It took the mayor of the small harbour city at the western coast of Sweden quite some time to stomach what he saw. His brain simply could not accept that his little part of the World was hit by the goddamned Event hard.  
>Not only sat a fraking <em>Chinese<em> village just outside the southern city border. No, a fleet of 20 War Junks had sailed into the harbour and their leader insisted that Falkenberg now belonged to the Empire of the heavenly Emperor of Cathay! Where did these madmen come from? Their weapons were archaic, but the Chi..Cathayians were heavily armed. How could they solve this peacefully? At least Agneta, his deputy, had called Stockholm, before all hell broke loose.


	7. Chapter 7

"**Drachis Kiss" Sea of Claws**

Hauclir was a Dark Elf resigned to his death, but he started to wonder what form it would take. When his Witch realized that the Battle was lost he decided to leave for home. He had the last imperial seamen killed and decided to sink the Galleons rather than fire at them.  
>They would take hours to sink that way, but that was better than to give a signal for any onlooker by firing them and causing a smoke column.<br>He had hoped that his fast Dark Elf ships would be able to outrun the Germans easily and then hide in the vastness of the oceans, but no such luck. Within a few hours a plane had over flown his small fleet, and ever since then a plane had flown lazy orbits around their ships.  
>Later that day a ship had also joined the surveillance, but nobody had ever attacked him or the other ships but kept a couple of 100 meters distance. He would have set a course to ram and board them, but he only had skeleton crews on board whose job it was to guard the ships until the raiding party was back.<br>Having rigged Nets across the ships sides and covered the deck with sand he had done what he could to prepare the ships for the fight.  
>Better to await the boarders and to sell their lives as well as possible. The waiting was really fraying his nerves and keeping up a stone-faced façade was getting more and more dangerous. The Galley slaves were getting restless, but they would die soon enough and new ones taken in.<br>Now a different fleet had joined the flock as could be seen from the different colour and these ships were now coming closer for an obvious boarding, but where the boarder hid he could not see.  
>The bolts he shot did not seem to do any appreciable harm, especially as he could not see any enemy except for some who hid behind a movable shield.<br>Nothing could have surprised Hauclir more than the stream of water which hid him squarely on the chest and forced him straight over the deck. He hesitated a little bit too long to release his crossbow so he did not get to grab a handrail on the ships far side before he was washed overboard. His Coat and armor prevented swimming effectively, damning him to the death by drowning that he feared most.

**Fireship "Bremen 1", Sea of Claws**

A normal truck mounted Water Cannon is able to throw 2200 litres of water a minute-usually more than enough to subdue demonstrators and similar. The Water cannons on the Fireship easily managed 14000, allowing two cannons to "cleanse" the decks of the Druchii galleys without endangering the rowing slaves the Elves kept.  
>The Fireman manning one of them had seen pictures from Papenburg and was just too eager to help storming the ships before they escaped. He kept a watchful eye on the enemies deck, but from the edges of his vision he saw the Boats approaching with the assault teams.<br>Nevertheless he kept the stream of water on the Reaper Bolt thrower which was the only weapon on the ship with any real potential to cause damage to him or his ship.

**GSG9 Assault Boat, Sea of Claws**

Mark Weber clutched the handles of his boat while at the same time covering his Nose as much as possible. He already dreaded the boarding-not so much because of the dangers but because he would no longer be able to hold his nose. The stink emitted by the Galley was ferocious; how the Elves could stand it was beyond his reckoning.  
>Normally the GSG9 would have preferred to assault by helicopter, but the masts of the Ships made that impossible. He was unhappy with the lack of intelligence, and the fact that his enemies belonged to a well-trained military. That the Spitzohren mostly using swords was counting for less in the close confines of a ship.<p>

Boarding was mostly easy as they had a marksman in over watch who shot the guys trying to stab them through a hole. The main problem was that the ship had started to go in lazy circles as the helm was no longer manned.  
>Once up on the main deck they found only a few Corsairs badly disabled and quickly reconnoitred the lower deck by lowering endoscopes through the gratings covering the rowers deck. Seeing no armed men a quick huddle gave a very basic plan.<p>

Mark waited for the flashbangs to go off and the grating to be ripped off by his comrades, then dropped directly into the hold. Turning to "his" side of the walkway he was immediately attacked by a thin whip-wielding elf, who looked distracted by the Sound and Light overload. The whip wrapped itself about his Torso, but the Armoured Vest kept it from doing any damage, whereas his 3-round burst went into the enemies breast and neck.  
>Scanning for additional enemies he found another Elf which had fallen between the rowers. To his amazement the slaves did not move to harm the slaver but slowly stopped rowing as they were no longer issued commands.<p>

The more he looked around the worse the sight became.  
>The stink and fear of the Galley slaves was horrible, as was the sight of the slaves. How these poor creatures could have endured for so long in such a state was beyond him, but even a cursory look showed lesions and inflammations from bad sanitary conditions and the chains.<br>The backs of all slaves showed many badly healed welts from whips, but the real problem he could see was the blank look in the eyes of the slaves, which together with the small pupils in the slaves eyes spoke of even bigger problems.  
>The "all clears" came in and now the more difficult part of the job began-saving all the victims of the Spitzohren-but this was for other people, his job was done.<p>

**Close to Papenburg, Late at night, 3 days later**

Jasla was not sure if she should consider herself lucky. When she had awoken after blacking out from the pain on the battlefield the battle was obviously over and even more obviously her side had lost.  
>She saw some Germans picking up the Druchii dead, of which there seemed to be many, and managed to crawl to a ditch where she managed to pull herself into a big concrete pipe. Shivering in the cold water she had to wait for many hours for the Germans to leave the Battlefield alone. When she finally left her hiding place her good night vision allowed her to avoid the few German patrols which were left.<br>Now she had slowly traversed the strange German landscape, mostly at night.

She did not find much to eat and drinking water from a clear looking spring had promptly given here "the runs". This did not improve her condition any which was already bad enough due to bad headaches, hunger and near total loss of all magic capabilities due to this.  
>She still had her dagger, her abilities and had decided to rob a local farm or house to take what food and local clothing there was. During the last hour she caught herself approaching a large house where her instinct seemed to pull her.<br>She was not sure what to make of this, but was pretty sure that her magical senses had detected something useful but could presently only show it in a roundabout way.

The house seemed to be quite full of people but all windows were shuttered and she could see nothing. She was about to leave because of the many people when some of the sounds made her think differently.  
>Pulling herself up to one window and plying her dagger to some paint showed her an amazing sight: Lots of people in an obvious orgy with some rather interesting permutations. She could also see evidence of handcuffs and at one wall a naked woman was whipped.<br>"Thank you Lord Slanesh" Hag Graef always harboured a Slaneshee cult, and while forbidden she always found the connections and action useful and amusing.  
>Feeling quite enthused at this good fortune she barged in through the door and shouted the greeting that should give her sanctuary within the cult. She was still registering the totally amazed faces when a powerful kick who`s origin she never saw to her chin send her into oblivion.<p>

**Police Car Peter 9, close to Papenburg**

"Say again, Center we are to go to the Swingers Club in Helm Road to check for WHAT…."

**Faculty of Magic, Kaiserslautern University, Germany**

The two magicians from the Bright and Gold Orders were still amazed by the technological sophistication of Germany. And they knew that their colleagues from the other Orders present here were so too.  
>Even the provisory rooms they had gotten for now were always heated, with flowing water and a firewoodless kitchen! The city was lit brightly at night, the clothes of the people...<br>It was culture shock of the first order the 8 men and women experienced. What was equally baffling were the questions the German pupils and researchers asked.  
>After Journeyman Heidbrand, the Bright (or Fire) Order mage had shown some of the things one could do if you were a student of the bright flame, the first question was not how to learn it to smite the Chaos menace! No, one engineer sitting there wanted to know, if he and the other learners of fire magic could produce steam for some arcane thing he called a "turbine".<br>Heidbrand, a bit perplexed, but eager to show his learning, agreed that it was possible to produce steam, but would like to know what this turbine thing was. He had had feared to be laughed at for his non-knowledge, but all he heard was the shout: "Cool Idea!"  
>Germans...<p>

**NDR Documentary, some weeks after the battle:**

Hospital setting, showing a recovering Slave rescued from a Druchii Galley:  
>"I was brought to the "Kiss" 5 months ago with 20 others. Me and Drogo over there, we are the last survivors of that them. The chains were riveted to the benches-we could not get up for anything. They were only loosened when we were at harbour.<br>No, you cannot ask Drogo, they cut his tongue out when he….."

Interrogation room at undisclosed location, showing Jasla in Chains which are liberally festooned with Charms and seals which look strange against the stark modern setting. Video is grainy and jumpy as it has been smuggled out of the Prison:  
>"We take from the lesser races what we want. Khaine has given them to us for this purpose. It is obvious: They are weak, so they are ours for the taking. If this were wrong they would be stronger and we could not use them so…..<br>...Torture serves many purposes: It subdues the slaves by instilling terror in their hearts, it provides information when we need it, it serves to make underlings know their place, but most of all, it shows Khaine our devotion to him in his many forms.  
>But also, it is such FUN. Little man, if I had just one hour with you I could….."<p>

Nuremberg Museum, talking to the curator:  
>"As you can see here, this spearhead is serrated in several places. The way it is made is not to kill as effectively as possible, but to inflict heavy bloodletting in combination with crippling pain. This seems to be to the point where it lowers the tactical usefulness in order to satisfy some sadistic urge…."<p>

Street at night, showing an exhausted looking Landwehr medic:  
>"This is what we do-we can no longer ask others to do it for us. We used to have allies who did the dirty work for us and whom we could despise for that-we no longer can. Our Big Brother is gone. If we do not defend ourselves, Nobody will and many more will die. Nobody of us asks for the risks, but we have to take them."<p>

**Same night in a well-protected Berlin Living room**:

"Scheiße,it is Fukushima again!"  
>The German chancellor refrained from throwing down the remote control, instead forcefully switching off the NDR documentary which just finished. "Why dear, I did not see any exploding Nuclear Power Stations?"<br>"Don`t play the fool Achim, it does not amuse at present. It is just that something just happened and was blown up by the media to the point where I have to do something radical I would rather not do, or we look foolish and weak. Not good, not good at all. Pass me the phone, will ya…"

"Thomas, yes it is me Angela. We have to have a meeting early tomorrow. Yes, about this Spitzohrenproblem. We have to…"

**Altdorf, Imperial Palace**

"So tell me, what is so important about this battle? It was more of a skirmish, less than 800 fighters on both sides. We know from the Swinemünde Battle already that the Germans can kill in carload lots if they think that is necessary?"  
>"What we think is important, your Majesty, is that the battle was mostly done by the lowly Landwehr, the City soldiers, with what the Germans consider simple weaponry, and mostly won by the time reinforcements arrived.<p>

If that is true, then we should do our utmost to acquire these weapons, especially these…machine guns. They seem to be easy to maintain and transport and we might be able to do some repairs, whereas we have problems with the guns the Germans gifted us. Our engineers are bright-eyed for these new cannons and we used them to counter a Chaos incursion into the Ostermark with unbelievable effect already, but..."  
>"But? Speak openly."<p>

"Yes, your Majesty. The cannons the Germans gave us are far beyond even Dwarf handiwork in power and reliability. But we have only a handful of master engineers capable to do even small repairs. Until we have more of them knowledgeable about these cannons, we have to be careful when and where we use them. It will get better with time, sure, but the machineguns I heard about are supposedly so simple to maintain, we can get them spread wider to our armies and faster then we will the cannons. The German Ambassador has asked for more Mages to be send to Germany, maybe we can arrange something here..."

**ThyssenKrupp Steelworks, Duisburg, Germany**

Rotach Roogson, chief advisor to the High King of all Dwarfs, did not need to look around to know the other Dwarfs in the group were as impressed as he was. Dwarvenkind rightly prided itself on their industrial prowess. When it came to the products of the Smith, their race was the top of the World. While there were a handful of master artisans in a few other lands like the Empire or Ulthuan able to compete with the Dwarfs, as a whole no one could compare.

_Until now_.

Rotach had problems grasping the scale of what he saw. The equivalent of a large city was solely dedicated to produce steel and other foundry products. But at the same time he looked forward to work with these Germans. Just the image of what wonders now lay in reach of all Dwarfs made him uncharacteristically giddy. Urging the King to come here and looking for himself would be a pleasure.  
>Rotach actually had been very reluctant to believe the reports he had gotten from the Empire about the strange newcomers. But he deemed himself man enough to recognize the challenge these Germans were. If the Karaks wanted to stay on top, it would do no good to stick the head into the sand like posing Elves!<p>

**Beach** **of Büsingen, Lake Constance, Germany**

Uta Zuralmen and her husband Urs sat on the small, sandy beach outside of Büsingen, with a view on the lake and the Ponton bridge connecting the village with Germany. They were doing a little picnic to relax from their harrowing experience back in Reichenau and Tamins.  
>The 32 years old woman was very happy that they survived the Orc attacks. After Kurt Crüwell and his helicopters saved them from certain death or slavery, there had been a painful decision to make. The German Colonel had told Uta that it had been a pleasure to help them, but Tamins now was positioned too far away or too difficult to reach from either Germany, the Empire, not to speak of the major Border Principalities.<p>

"Frau Zuralmen, we can give all survivors a lift to another place and then destroy everything here, to keep it out of the hands of murderous barbarians. Alternatively, if to leave is too much to stomach for you, we can give Tamins some rations and ammunition, but then you´d be on your own. We will tell the Empire officials in the Mootland where you are, but don´t be foolish to count on fast help.  
>The World´s Edge Mountains where we are standing now, are far more vast than the Himalaya back home on Earth and the Empire of Mankind, which is one of the most advanced nations here, is around 400 years in development behind us."<p>

"Are there others of us two here on this planet?"

"A good question. Germany, and some nibbles of neighbouring countries, were transported to this world in one piece and you are the first group of other Earth people we found. This planet is larger than our home planet and it was shaken too, so it might be that there are other people stranded here. If that is the case, they do not have access to advanced communication, since we still monitor the wireless and radio frequencies and the channels are empty except for our own. Or they are too far away to connect without enhancers."

"Oberst Crüwell, I will talk with the others."  
>It was with a heavy heart for most, but there was too much danger to consider staying in Tamins. So the survivors packed what they could and were evacuated with helicopters. To feel a bit more at home, the Swiss opted for settling in Büsingen. The German enclave-turned-island had a decidedly Swiss feel to it.<p>

**Chancellery, Berlin, Germany**

"Unemployment levels are sinking, slow but steady. We are _lucky_ thatBundeswehrand Landwehr take in a lot of the unemployed, but the biggest influx are Farming, Magic and most of all the rebuilding of industries Germany lost over time due to international competition."

"Very well. An example please, just for records, we have enough imagination for that."

"No problem, Herr Minister. Barrels are a wonderful example. Before the Weltensprung we imported practically all our barrels, except some special types, from Romania and other nations."

"What about the food front, Hans?"

"Frau Bundeskanzlerin, our farmers, as ordered, have begun to reactivate fallow fields. Bio fuel production has been lowered and we will be able to fill our food demands on essentials on our own. Problems are only 'colonial goods' like oranges, things we could never produce en masse in the cool climate of Europe.  
>We are still hampered by our lack of an accurate World map. Our researchers add to a new map every day and we have at least some useable local maps from the start, but we have not found several resources to this day. Take Mangos, wherever we went until now, our expeditions have not found them. We have contacted the imperial Far-Traders-Guild on that matter and wait for a reply. I think it will get faster when the telephone lines to Altdorf are ready.<br>On the positive side, some farmers have brought out the first seeds of local grains, turnips and berries. I heard from the experts that some of the Empire´s and Nipponese crops are finely cultured. The rice examples we got from Kagoshima beat our Earth variants and one barley sort we got from the Empire is a big step in making our own crops even more winter-hard.

But both the Imperials and the Nipponese are really thankful for our high yield crops. On agriculture, I think, no matter what time will bring, we will work closely together with the Imperials and the Nipponese. We can learn from each other. Alone the things the Jade Order mages can do when not being in the order of Battle - We have to re- and newly learn some things.  
>I eagerly await the return of our delegation to Bretonnia. From what I read on that land, they might have the largest per capita agricultural power in the Old-"<p>

"I am afraid, Hans, you and Ilse will wait longer for cooperation with the Bretons. It is one of the reasons I called in the extraordinary government session. There are Bretonnian troops on Nipponese and our new soil and from what our delegation in Couronne heard, they will not go back. According to some Duke Arnaud de Montfort, the custodian for the King there,

..._the Lady herself approves of the taking of the Wasteland for the premier culture nation on the Globe and anyway, there has been a sign that shows that his Highness King Lioncour has now the right to rule this part of the Old World._  
>I doubt that they will be persuaded by talking, not when their goddess-"<p>

"Sorry, Angela, but that Lady of the Lake is an Elven scam!"

"Yes, but God has seen to it that some things function differently on this planet. Fervent belief can produce interesting results. Anyway, we now have choice to make. We might stop a conflict, if we give Bretonnia that part of the former Wasteland and build a partnership with what seems to be the second most important nation in several thousand kilometers. On the Grand Scale, the Nipponese splinter has less potential than Bretonnia, esp. if we help the Bretons too.

Or we do what we already begun and bring that part of Nippon fully into our orbit. While more limited in potential compared to France 2.0 and obvious differences in culture, we already made a successful _First Contact_ with these Nipponese. And with Earth evidence available, on general outlook on life, we are or will be closer to the Nipponese than the Bretons.  
>Additionally, when our expeditions and trade will reach Nippon proper, then our help for their compatriots will bring us a relationship bonus too."<p>

**Biel-Tan´s Breath, Southern Sea**

"Master Teclis, I am sorry I do not understand your reasoning correctly, but why did we save this Irglier guy? We were on the way to meet the Germans, now we saved a half-dead Corsair of our misguided cousins, risking the wrath of the newcomers after what he did and we are now on the way to Araby?"

"Have more trust in the vision of Elvenkind, young scholar. After what happened, the Germans would have greeted us with too much distrust and Irglier can be useful. Besides, he is an Elf like us."

"I do not doubt your wisdom, but it might cloud the impression these new humans will get of us."

"They are humans and short-sighted like all of their kind. This new course we have will lay the foundation for a better first talk with them."

**Oval Office, Washington, USA**

"Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, what is the verdict?"

"Mr. President, the global situation is really bad, but it could have been worse for us."

"Worse?"

"Yes, the States lucked out compared to some of our competition. China, from what we can estimate, is hit as hard as we are, but since they were not at our level before the Event, we still have the upper hand, should it come to more tensions."

"I beg your pardon, but this is a very optimistic outlook! Mr. President, when it comes to the military, then yes, we still hold the upper hand anywhere. But my colleague´s abstract is too narrow.  
>Economically, not only we, but the whole globe marches into a depression never seen before. The devastations of the new landscapes across the northern hemisphere did not only destroy several key industry sites, but interdicted a lot of important transport routes.<br>Not only in Africa, parts of Asia or Europe, even here in the States we have the first famines! Denver has been totally cut off from all land routes and at the moment, as you know Mr. President, we supply them as good as possible under the circumstances from the air. But we have to conserve fuel until further notice and the weather does not always help. When the winter fully hits Colorado, Denver will starve even more. We have to make a decision. Do we evacuate Denver or do we keep up the insufficient air drops until Denver can be reached by new roads?

And that is only the tip of thee iceberg. Despite the Wall Street´s critic of Germany´s economic model, which was in concert with some of our foreign agendas, Germany was one of the few true active posts in the crisis.  
>Germany accounted for nearly 11% of all trade worldwide. This cannot be compensated for overnight. What hurts even more, is the loss of German products. It is not clear to the public, how many things are from Germany or have components from there. A whole range of German products are unsexy compared to the glamour of an iPod. But an iPod is not vital, unlike those products. Germany produces...produced 80% of all pumps in water purification equipment! There are scores of products not from Germany, that rely on parts or tools from Germany to be made.<p>

Earth lost it´s two largest chemical factory complexes in this Event. We had the second-largest, which now resides on the bottom of a new lake, the BASF complex went missing with Germany and their other chemical factories were nothing to sneeze at. In addition with the damages caused by the Event in the other chemical world leaders, global chemical production fell 50%.  
>I have prepared a thorough paper, you can read the conclusions in detail, so to be blunt: If, whatever spirited Germany away, does not return her, we will have a deep recession globally until roughly the forties or longer, if mistakes are made. The world economy was shaky already and then losing one of the top 4 powerhouses overnight cannot be compensated earlier.<br>Even if Germany somehow returns, with her industry and infrastructure intact, the damages on the northern hemisphere and by extension to the global transportation network are so heavy, that we would have a recession until the early 20s."

The silence greeting that statement was telling.

"I...see. What about other regions hit by this strange event?"

"Mr. President, southern Europe is in chaos. Germany was the only thing keeping them afloat. With the exception of Italy, they all are bankrupt, but even the Italians have big problems. Old divisions broke out and South Tyrol unilaterally declared itself independent and then directly reunified with Austria. There is the real possibility that the Lombardy follows the Tyrolians and declares itself independent. Hardly surprising, since both had long feuds with Rome and now with North and South Italy fully severed from each other...  
>Eastern Europe copes relatively well, since they have a long tradition of improvising, but they feel the loss of Germany very keen, a lot of their progress was linked with the Germans.<br>Many fear a return of the Russians, which led Hungary to renew old contacts with the Austrians.

France and the Benelux came off relatively unscarred, but Belgium has a serious problem with the... Orcs in the East, coming in from the strange land which changed place with Germany.  
>Scandinavia came off lightly as well, most of the landscape changes happened in lightly populated regions and it might be the only European region with pre-Event stability.<p>

Our friends the British, lost nearly no industry, but here the landscape changes made the roads a disaster and transportation is very limited even months after IT.

On the Arabian peninsular there is a water shortage of biblical proportions. The shifts in water reserves, ground water level, etc. led to a situation everyone against the other. I fear we lost control there fully.

Russia and China are silent on what happened to them, but their subdued international operations economically and politically for months despite opportunities, hint that they were hit as hard as we were.  
>If some nations can be called lucky, it is Ethiopia, Japan and the Senegal. While they have damages as well, in the case of Japan the epic changes sealed off 3 major fault lines around the Home Islands. This means Japan will have a sharply falling number of earthquakes and Tsunamis in the future.<br>Ethiopia and the Senegal are now two big forests with corresponding rainfall. This even helps direct neighbours in their fight against the desertification of Northern Africa.

Canada and Mexico, our direct neighbours report a mixed bag of changes. Tlaxcala, once a region with inferior soil, has now fields with breadbasket level fertility. On the other hand, Ciudad Juarez, one of Mexico´s largest, but an infamous, cities suddenly found itself transported from the Rio Grande into Baja California.  
>In Canada, the whole Hudson Bay region and quite a bit of further inland areas have now a more moderate climate, comparable to Europe´s on the same latitudes, but the St. Lawrence River is now a lake..."<p>

**Two weeks later, late at night the German Navy Headquarters**

Captain Werner usually did not like to work too long at the desk, his wife was dead against it. But these days headquarters was busy as hell - the Navy was expanding, many bottlenecks and shortcomings due to a lack of suppliers had to be rectified.  
>On top of that the Papenburg raid had really kicked the anthill as the Berlin Government screamed for a response, but given the distance to Hag Graef it was very hard to mount something beyond something symbolic.<br>The German navy had ships for fighting submarines, but there no really dangerous ones around. Actually, sub warfare was now only for keeping sea monsters at bay.  
>The German navy had ships to defend against airplanes, but there was no creditable threat in numbers. For a good old-fashioned surface bombardment the 76 mm guns on the active German ships were much too small and he had nothing to ship soldiers over big distances.<br>To think about something for air support was out of the question.  
>The Class 125 Frigates would be about right for the shore bombardment part but they were not due for 2-3 more years and critical parts, like their Italian guns, were not delivered before the Weltensprung. Rheinmetall and Thyssen-Krupp were working on that problem, having enough old blueprints and prototypes in all classes.<p>

As long as he was on the staff of the Navy it was his job to propose how to make bricks without straw. Being lost for a creative answer he was idly scanning old projects that had been rejected before. He had already found a partial answer that he had noted down and that had motivated him to look deeper into his files.  
>He was about to skip the next one which was very old, very Cold War and a suggestion for Anti-Submarine Warfare when something caught the eye.<br>Now that could be interesting, very interesting…  
>He started writing a recommendation for further study while the File was still open on the Computer in the background.<br>"_Project Aparaho"_

**2 Months later, Hamburg, Blohm & Voss Shipyards, Dock Elbe 17**

The Blohm & Voss yard was one of the oldest and most experienced yards in Germany and had built some very famous ships, like the "Europa" Passenger liner or the "Bismark", but the Project they took now was unusual even for them.  
>Everybody was ultra-careful when manoeuvring the ship into the dock. While it was B&amp;V`s largest there was few space left, in some cases just a handspan. Already teams were working on the ship, one of them removing the old name. When one looked loosely one could still read the name "Marco Polo".<br>At another dock two Frigates were modified with a crew joking about putting it in before-and then pulling it out-and then putting it in again…..

**Several months later, Papenburg**

Ralf Winkler and his wife came back home from the unveiling of the newest part of the Veteran memorial in Papenburg. It now showed a new face with the Dead of the "Battle of Papenburg" besides the names of the fallen from two world wars.  
>While his wife put out some afternoon cake on the Balcony table, Ralf came back in and sorted the mail he just retrieved from the mailbox. "Did you see Lt. Fredriksen dear? He looked like an old man, did you not say you treated him?"<br>"Yes honey, but Atropine is no miracle cure, his nerves will probably never regenerate right. But at least he is alive, that has to do. Now let's see, what do we have here.. advertising, advertising... I always wonder how they still have paper for that…no, I will not throw it away dear…Federal ministry of Defence?...WHAT?

**Ulthuan, Tower of Hoeth**

The old Elf set cross-legged in a circle of arcane symbols and candles. Some of the Symbols seemed to glow by themselves, while seemingly shifting from one shape to another. Would there have been an observer, he could not have said when such a shift started or end, now how they had shifted, if at all.  
>The eyes of the elf were open, but there focus would have shown the hypothetical observer clearly that they were not looking at anything within their field of view.<br>Finally he ended his meditation and started breathing more deeply. It was good that no observer was present as the dry coughing caused by the deep breath and the stale air would strongly detract from the unflappable facade the elf always tries to project.  
>Standing up slowly and making sure that all limbs had circulation again he left for the anteroom of his meditation chamber before summoning his aide. "Aeolus, assemble our gear, we have a long trip to take."<br>"Master, you never did that in living memory, what is it?"  
>"I have seen a vision of a great undertaking that I must take part in."<br>"Where do we go master?"  
>"To Germany, where Teclis should have gone to. He simply is too young to understand that what voyage he and his pupils are on, could have been done later. There are dark clouds over humans and Elves."<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

"**Seeadler" at Sea, Sea of Claws**

To say that the Seeadler was a maze below decks was a severe understatement, it was the maze to end them all. Sometimes it seemed like something Goedel or Esher would dream up, and unfortunately some parts of it were a badly vented maze. Such a place was the material storage which was checked by a couple of medics for contents. Amazingly they did not feel the room as stuffy, but rather liked it.  
>After 1 hour of stupid but necessary work, everybody looked at each other and decided for an unauthorized break. A quickly chewed gum was placed over the sole smoke detector of the room and the cigarettes and lighters came out.<p>

The first lighter to go produced a much more spectacular effect than envisioned-the hair and clothes of the would-be smoker caught fire immediately, as did some of the normally unignitable stores and the others in the room.  
>Nobody had realized that two 30 liter Oxygen bottles had not been sufficiently closed during their last inspection, raising the oxygen content of the room from 21 to more than 30%, fires are <em>very<em> spectacular then.  
>Only one of the 5 Medics in the room escaped, badly burned, the others were dead. Over the next months the survivor often wished he had not.<br>An inauspicious start for the largest navel undertaking of Germany for more than 60 years.

**D+11 Dornier "Seastar", approaching Task Force **

Ilthis was an irritated Elf. Not because he was flying in a strange machine - he had foreseen that and knew he would land safely. Not because he had reached the Germans so late that they had to send him after the Task Force he wanted to join by a "plane". The Germans needed him so much they would have surely held their Fleet in port for him. Not because the Germans were not polite, on the contrary, even if they had a disturbing tendency to treat him like an equal and not one of the greatest mages alive.

It might have been Aeolus, his apprentice and helper. In order to look after his masters well-being he had to contact the Germans a lot but he seemed to be too much taken by them and their "technology". That this technology was making his job much easier than normal, hot water on demand, Laundry immediately available, food on order might have something to do with it.  
>That the Germans treated the youngling like an adult, which he surely was not might also work into it.<p>

At present he was looking out of the Window and got explanations by the officer seated next to him. As there was nothing better to do he decided to take a look as well and to listen in on the explanations given to his aide.  
>"The two ships over there are "Bremen" and "Köln", part of the Escort fleet which protects the rest of the fleet from enemy ships, Critters and similar things. There are two more like them on the other side of the Fleet which we cannot see now.<br>The 3 Ships in that line over there are "Sachsen", "Hamburg" and "Hessen"-they are our bombardment squadron, but they can also protect the fleet from Dragons.  
>The ships in the middle, look THERE, are the supply ships "Berlin" "Frankfurt am Main" and "Freiburg" - the latter is a converted civilian tanker, they all have the fuel we need to move this fleet along.<br>The plane then made one of it`s disconcerting turns which made the sea look sideways instead of down, changing the angle of their view. 3 much bigger ships than the ships seen before now came into view. They looked decidedly different from the ships seen so far, not only bigger but well-_different_.

"Ah, these are the troop transports "Papenburg" and the "Regensburg" – they used to be cruise ships. And there we have the "Seeadler". Up to now Ilthies was not greatly impressed, Asur could fill the seas with sails and wood if they wished and here came less than 20 ships. What kind of great undertaking was this?  
>Now that they flew a lot closer he could make out humans on the ship for the first time, giving him a yardstick to measure the ship against. For a second his brain simply did not believe his own conclusions, no ship could be THIS big and not be build with magic like the Arcs of their misguided cousins.<p>

But there it was. Recovering somewhat he again listened to the officer who was obviously excited about this leviathan  
>"396 meters long, 53 meters across. Engine has 108000 horsepower, good enough for 24 knots. It has 12 27 mm autocannons and numerous machine guns. But its main claim to fame is under that long shed over there, you will see later."<br>After that a crewmember reminded him to fasten a "seatbelt" which he learned to appreciate on landing and when the plane was lifted on deck of the ship by crane.

Much later on that evening when he was about to go to sleep he realized what made him feel so strange about the Germans: They did not stink. Neither the soldiers or their ships, it was rather strange, did they really wash themselves and their clothing like civilized beings?

**Humboldt** **University, Audimax, Berlin**

Owing to the fact that the first real report of the Exploration teams was important for several ministries, which meant a large group of persons needed to be in the know and a large number of exposits, the largest auditorium of the prestigious Humboldt University had been cordoned off by security.  
>Maike Herligkoffer and her old Professor, Siegmar von Schürbein, were the two scientists delivering the report, enriched with showings of the knick-knacks and foundlings brought back.<p>

"While there is a baffling numbers of languages which are similar to our Earth-languages, most obviously the Reikspiel of the Empire, in the Southlands and the Far East we recorded human languages with no connection to Earth. We make an assumption here, but the evidence hints to the possibility that these groups are the true natives of this World, unlike the most certainly transplanted people of the larger nations."

"Dr. Herligkoffer, how complete is the exploration of this world? And even more important, what about the local nations?"

"Well, the exploration will not be complete for years, maybe decades to come. We still have a lot of white spots concerning the deep interior of most continents, but when it comes to the major nations, our maps which came with us to this place are more often correct than not, except the scaling, the distances vary be a wide margin in some cases.  
>Concerning diplomacy, Herr Minister... We had more than one harrowing experience with the local cultures. This is a hostile world-"<p>

"Understatement of the month!"

"But we have managed to open diplomatic relations with 41 nations up to this day and are working on more. I have to admit, in this count are several so called Border Principalities included, which are not overly large."

"What about the Great Powers?"

"So and so, I´m afraid. I don´t think we have to remind you about the very tense situation along the western border-"

"Sorry to interrupt you Maike," could be heard coming from the chancellor, who was a bit acquainted with the young scientist, looking up from her cell phone display, "There are disturbing news coming in. The Daimyo assembly in Kagoshima informed me that one of their recon teams encountered one Bretonnian army traversing the Reik into Nipponese territory, the one we already feared was coming. But the 55th Landwehr reports a second Bretonnian army preparing to cross the Reik several kilometer north of Xanten.  
>The only saving grace is that this world runs slower than Earth. We have enough time to finish this meeting, which is important for our outlook on the next future too and then go into a strategy sessions on how to handle the Bretonnian problem. Maike, please continue."<p>

Several state secretaries could be heard moving and leaving, preparing the coming meetings.

"Eh, thank you, Frau Bundeskanzlerin! Well, about Bretonnia does not need more to be said. The situation is now fully self-explanatory.  
>The relations with the Empire are clear as well. I think you know more than us. Kislev is very cautious, but that the Empire has opened relations with us, works in our favour. How the future develops concerning that country hinges on our behaviour. Help against the Chaos hordes is always welcome to the subjects of the Tzarina.<br>The Dwarfs, as far as we can say for now, are negatively influenced by our arrival. We act as the final straw in a division which had been brewing for centuries. Dwarf society is very conservative, but there are elements present which are more progressive. Our mastery over things the Dwarfs saw as their sole specialty, brought out this conflict into the open. Until this internal problem is solved, we can anticipate help in the case of a major Chaos-incursion and trade, but more is very improbable.

After their serious loss at Swinemünde, we have opened relations with two major Norse tribes, the Skraelings and Gothlings. Trade, done with foresight, might turn around their perception of us. We are able to deliver things essential to their survival up North, this is a trump. We might be bring one or two others of their greater tribes at the tables, but not more.

Estalia, Tilea and the Border Princedoms are another thing to be careful with. Their internal divisions make stable relations with more than parts of the full territories difficult.

Albion can be put on the backburner for now. The local "British" are an extremely insular society and difficult to reach. It seems a magical effect makes pinpointing the position of the Islands very tricky. The main reason to keep watch is the fact, that several other nations have some colonies there."

"I call it refreshing that the Limeys here do not anything to frak up the balance of Power for once. A toast to the fantasy version of the fruity UKIP!"  
>Suppressed laughter could be heard among the attending people.<p>

"The polar opposite, as far as islands go, is Ulthuan. Their mastery over magic make the High Elves a force to be reckoned with and they are the main colonial power on this world. Unfortunately from our perspective, them being Elves and a state as near to a true Great Power in Earth definition, makes them _supremely confident_. And-"

"In other words, they are arrogant, smug assholes on the same scale as the _Darkies_, just less sadistic, correct?"

"I would not have said it in these words, but you could see it so, if you wish. Araby is nearly the same as our version. A patchwork of feuding Sultanates, Emirates, all working in a web of ever-changing alliances. If not for the raw materials we dearly need, most importantly oil, I would advice to keep away. But since this is not feasible, we should keep acquaintances' with a handful of states only, to keep us from getting pulled into the bloody feuds there.

The Kingdoms of Ind are a larger, more stable version of Tilea and the Border Principalities. In the future this might become one of our most important trade partners, but at the moment we have relations opened only with the Mogul of Eschnapur.

As we hoped Nippon reacted favourably to our help for their lost brothers and sisters. Considering the circumstances on this world, we could keep them accepting if we ever would incorporate the splinter into Germany. But they showed their potential already. For the okay concerning the Kagoshima region, they want some help and a most favoured trade partner status. We gave them a guarantee for that, I hope this is... was correct?"

"Yes, opening friendly relations with as much nations as possible can only be helpful in the long run. This world has far worse enemies in petto than grumbling competitors."

"Cathay is another twin of an Earth nation here on this world. In a sense, they are as closed a society as the Nipponese are. Imagine China two hundred years back, but more aggressive in foreign matters. But where we have an opening with the Nipponese, with the Cathayans we have to begin from the start. A first line of consultations have begun, but we need more time to breach the layers of red tape. Fortunately, trade possibilities will not be curtailed by this.  
>There is a multitude of other human, non-human and even monstrous societies in existence. We estimate the number of sovereign nations to be higher than on Earth. We have counted 91 so far and from hearsay we can presume to be more than 150 still unaccounted for by our teams.<p>

The greatest question in this early stage of our forced settling here is: How far do we go with trade?  
>To keep a semblance of the Germany we were, we need massive trade. Not only for our economy, but for crucial raw materials as well. It might taste bad in the mouths of many, but as far as trade goes, some monstrous societies show bigger promise than a lot more "normal" ones. So what shall we do?"<p>

**OLG Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany**

Az. 1 Ss 354/12

10.06.2521

Urteil

Im Namen des Volkes

The accused Ademir, Umuthir and Rasin are sentenced to lifelong imprisonment because of murder and attempted murder in coincidence and in multiplicity with aggravated assault and dangerous assault. The accused Hesht, Oshin, Iolaos, Jirana, Erotot, Fis, Grana, Halos, Ila, Jasla, Rotus, L (never identified himself with a real name) and Garnir will be sentenced because of complicity of said crimes, Hesht and Oshin also because of complicity of complicity of deprivation of personal freedom. The accused Hesht is sentenced to 10 years und 11 months, the accused Oshin to 10 years, the accused Iolaos to 9 years und 10 months, the accused Jirana to 9 years und 6 months, the accused Erotot to 9 years, the accused Fis to 8 years 11 months, the accused Grana to 8 years und 7 months, the accused Halos to 8 years und 5 months, the accused Ila to 8 years und 3 months, the accused Jasla to 7 years und 9 months, the accused Rotus to 7 years 6 months, the accused L to 7 years, 3 months und the accused Garnir to 6 years und 9 months imprisonment

Reasons:

I.

The accused are Druchii. On 02.09.2012 AD they captured as a part of a raiding team a small Imperial convoy in the Sea of Claws. A part of the crew was tortured and killed and the other crew was forced to drive the ships to the German coast, where they arrived on 03.09.2012 AD.  
>They landed near the coast near Papenburg and raided the farm of the Martensen family. There they tortured and killed the husband and the two children of the family. Only Mrs. Martensen survived, albeit with grievous injuries. She is still in coma. Because of an emergency call by Mrs. Martensen a SEK team of the local police was able to retake the farm and kill the advance party. Shortly after the police team was besieged themselves, as the main force arrived. Some hours later they were relieved by soldiers of Landwehrregiment XX. In the following fights the Druchii raiding band was enclosed themselves. The accused are the survivors of this raiding party. Their leader and some others escaped.<br>Knowing the result of the fight, the other Druchii set sails and killed the surviving crew of the convoy except three, who were also injured in grievous ways.  
>The Federal Persecution Authorities and pleaded to sentence the accused because of murder, attempted murder, membership in a terroristic organization, grievous assault, dangerous assault, deprivation of personal freedom and violating of the Weapon Law.<br>The accused have pleaded being not guilty as they were members of the forces of a foreign country and the local customs don't protect the civil population.  
>These arguments were only valid to a certain point.<p>

II.

1.

The Druchii are considered to be legally humans according to § 3 Nr. 8 of the Rassengleichstellungsgesetzes from 14.07.2012.

2.

a)

A criminal liability of the accused because of actions in the so called Battle of Papenburg does not exist. The raiding team must be considered as part of the forces of a foreign state.  
>Naggaroth is a state. She has the given characteristics of a state. She has an area, a population and a government. That this government is ruled by changing constellations and in dependence to certain groups is no point against this, as Germany herself is governed in a similar way, meaning with changing governments and in dependants of certain groups. Additionally parts of Naggaroth may be considered as states as well and the whole country might be a kind of a confederation similar to the EU, which also is considered having statehood.<br>Such a raiding team is also part of the armed forces of Naggaroth and have the status of combatants. This requires being members of the armed forces of these nation, militias, a paramilitary group getting the status of combatants after sending an according message to the enemy or of a levée en masse or guerilla fighters, if they had shown their weapons openly. In Naggaroth Black Corsairs are hired to make raiding tours. But they are also used in defense as well as offensive. Although they don't fit totally into the scheme known on Earth, they share most characteristics. That they are similar to the freelancer of the old days is another question. But insofar the local customs are to be considered, which make it necessary to reduce the status to the levels of the Thirty Years war, at least considering the status of being a combatant. A comparison with the mercenary armies of that time is mostly valid, as despite the rudimentary customs of that time they have to be considered as combatants.  
>That their aims were the capture of slaves and plundering of villages and towns doesn't change anything. Such illegal actions are only war crimes, which have to be tried against the planners and financiers of this raid.<br>Only war crimes can cause a culpability of combatants. During the fights no such actions took place. The use of such weapons might be an insult, but in this world there are no such rules banning weapons causing much pain. Because of this it can't be punished here as well. Furthermore it would be more a question of the culpability of their leaders.

b)

Culpability because of the deed before and after the fighting, the murder respectively the attempted murder of the crews of the convoy and the family Martensen as well as the deprivation of personal freedom of the slaves on the Druchii ships is given.

aa)

This isn't excluded that in this case other rules of warfare have to be considered than on Earth. Because here the killing of innocents is considered as a crime as well. The accused confess themselves, they don't grant pardon nor beg for pardon. They know, that their deeds are "wrong" in the eyes of the laws. This excludes a mistake of law in the sense of § 17 StGB. Such error is given, if the accused doesn't know their deeds are forbidden, at least in the sphere of an ordinary person, and considers it as allowed. That is not the case here. The accused know, that murder and looting is banned here as well as in their home county. But not knowing the consequences is not a mistake of law as of § 17 StGB.

bb)

A culpability because of grievous robbery of the convoy ships in the sense of §§ 249, 250 StGB is not given here as well. It is already questionable, if they wanted to keep the convoy ships. But even if we could say so, the boarding of enemy ships including merchant vessels and their use are respected rules of war and thus are justified by them as well. It is also legally accepted that boarded ships might be rebuilt as auxiliary ships, in this case as troop transports. That they are not registered by any navy is only a formality, which is not to be accepted any more as this criteria does not exist here. Even if there would be such a register, the conditions of the certain case might make such impossible, especially if there is no possibility to contact the home country. Furthermore in history there were also German manned ships, which were not included into the register, which also may be secret, but still considered implicitly as warships.

cc)

Culpability because of murder of the convoy crew in 84 cases and the attempted murder in three cases in coincidence with dangerous resp. grievous assault is given here.

Murder is given here. Murder is according to § 211 StGB inter alia a killing of a person in a cruel way or with lust to kill. Both are given here.  
>Lust to kill is the morbid joy to destroy a human life. Here their death should be a warning towards the survivors, a sacrifice for their god Khaine and simple joy. The latter point truly fulfills the conditions of a lust to kill. This was admitted by all of the Druchii. That they had answered the questions not knowing or understanding their rights and so violate § 136 StPO, which would lead to exclusion as proof, is not given either. Although it is necessary that the accused know their rights and also understand the introductions of their rights, there is no doubt they understood them. Not believing them or even despising the German juristical system does not mean not to understand them. Like the interrogation of the accused Jasla showed, her rights were introduced at the very beginning, but she did not want to hear them as she showed hatred towards all "Humie" rules. She understood very well her rights but did not follow them. Thus their confesses are valid proves.<br>Also the socialization in a society, where such actions are considered as adequate, does not excuse them either. Because such a socialization means not knowing that their deeds might be a crime elsewhere. But that's not the case here, as the Druchii know very well, that their deeds are considered as crimes elsewhere. This includes the membership in the cult of Khaine as well. Every other opinion would violate Art. 1 stanza 1 GG. The Pride of Man is universal. Every German authority is kept to uphold it. Thus they are also bound to stop Druchii ships and liberate their slaves wherever they found them out of the national waters of Naggaroth. As de facto Germany is at war with Naggaroth, see the declaration of self defence of the government from 11.05.2012, further actions are also justified.

Here also cruelty in the sense of § 211 stanza 2 is given. This is true if the killing is done by means to exaggerate the needed force to kill. This happened here as well, like the autopsies proved (p. 105-1009 of the file). The force used was so exaggerated, which is beyond imagination of most normal people and even is seen very rarely by psychopaths.

The survivors were also hurt in the intention to murder. Because some of them had received lasting damages a grievous assault is given in the sense of § 226 StGB. The assault on the other survivors, as being hurt by a weapon or a dangerous tool, means a dangerous assault in the sense of §§ 223, 224 StGB.

The officers Arasu, Uluthir and Lasin are to be sentenced as offenders and not as assistants in regards to the murder. Offenders are, who have an interest in the deed, the participation at the deed and the control over the deed. This is here the case. Both had their share on the prey promised and because of this a financial interest in succeeding with the raid. They controlled their troops and thus did not only participate but also control the raid. Also they could give orders to their troops and thus did control them. Thus they also controlled the deed, as their men would not have committed crimes if they were not ordered to do so. They did not prevent these crimes. In contrast, this was proven by the confessions of the other accused, they did not give any order to stop the massacre. Without these orders the massacres would not have taken place. Both officers had the duty to stop these massacres. Only the attempt to do so would here had been sufficient. But they did not do so.

These confessions are believable. They revealed details, which were only to people, who were witnessing the killings. Furthermore both officers had confessed, that such killings were usual to frighten the other survivors. And for fun. Because of this they had a responsibility for the deed as such.

The other accused had no such authority, but were bound to the authority of the other officers. Because of this only assistance is given here. They all were there and agreed to the killings openly and thus gave at least psychological assistance. This is also true for Z, as he as naval officer, the only one to survive, had no authority in the raid.

For the other killings after the defeat the accused are responsible as well, as it belonged to the plan to kill the survivors in case of defeat.

cc)

A cupability because of murder in three cases in coincidence with attempted murder and grievous assault in one case on the Martensen family is given here as well. Here, people were tortured and killed on a bestial way, partly also because of fun. Here a victim, Frau Martensen, survived with permanent injuries.

That none of the accused was there, is irrelevant. It was part of the plan to retrieve information with torture and killing. One group did that while the other was going to secure the other group. Such planned division of work is sufficient to cause the culpability of the accused as offenders, Arasu and Uluthir, or, as the rest, as assistants.

dd)

Because of the enslaving of the crews of their Druchii ships and their mistreatment all accused except Garnir are to be sentenced because of assistance of deprivation of personal freedom and in coincidence with assault, dangerous assault and grievous assault, §§ 239, 223, 224, 226, 52 StGB. They did not have any authority over the ships. They only supported this system by joining a force using them. With their plan to rob also new slaves and the use of slaves as oars, they supported the system and used it to do their crimes. Because of this they were also supporting the slavery of the crews. It doesn't matter slavery is allowed in their system. As a crime against the pride of man according to Art. 1 stanza 1 of the constitution slavery is forbidden everywhere outside areas, where slavery is legal. Using slaves outside these areas is a crime.

Z as the only surviving naval officer is fully responsible for these crimes as he had the direct authority. Because of this he was to be sentenced as direct offender.

ee)

Other delicts are not obvious. Either they were parts of the rules of warfare, like the capture of the crew of the convoy, or an object of legal protection was not in imminent danger, at least how the accused thought. No civilians were in danger nor any property could be taken as prey.

3.

The accused Arasu, Uluthir and Lasin are to be sentenced with lifelong imprisonment. The special grievousness of the guilt is determined. It is given because of the circumstances of the mass destruction of human life and the bestial circumstances under which that happened. That the accused show no remorse cannot be held against them. Missing remorse does not aggravate the sentence. However, missing remorse may be a sign for the danger of the public. That has to be considered, once they want to get out on parole.

The other accused are to be sentenced with imprisonment like stated in the tenor. Basing punishment is in all cases assistance of murder in two cases. The other crimes are raising the punishments. The given punishments are sufficient and necessary. That they are socialized in such a society can only be considered in favour for them in a small way. The kind of their crimes are too horrible to explain that with such a society. Furthermore the lack of reasons of such a cruelty is raising the guilt as is the kind how the deeds were committed. However, they are Druchii and will have a harder time in German prisons. This is however compensated by the fact, that Druchii live longer than Humans.

A preventive detention is excluded as the Druchii and the Ferderal Republic of Germany are de facto in a state of war. Should they still be a danger to Germany they can be retained as prisoners of war. If the war is over, they likely will not be a danger for Germany any longer.

**Same day, Seeadler , 4 decks lower than Ilthies`s cabin, workshop **

When the crew of the Seeadler had learned that among the "special guests" they were taking aboard would be an imperial Technikus named "Fräulein Meikle", everybody was at a loss at what to do with her. Magicians they could use, but a technicus of a civilization which still burned witches?  
>This had lasted exactly as long as she arrived and her at-sea trunk followed her like an eager puppy on 12 legs! One sailor quickly learned that it was not a good idea to get in the way of "Luggage", but for credentials it served just fine. There was obviously a way to join magic and technology that the Empire knew and should be looked at. That the "Fräulein" was used to work with overbearing men using guile and charm, did not hurt either.<br>But from sheer necessity the crew of this ship contained a far greater proportion of tinkerers which made ends meet with whatever was there. Germany still was not able to quench all demands. Some things simply could not be found, for others the needed infrastructure had to be build or re-build, it needed time this Operation could not wait for - and for that reason alone the Fräulein had taken the ships artificers by storm.

Presently they were burning the midnight oil in an effort to make something work which Meikle wanted to call "Fräulein Meikles precise techomagicological indicator" and for which the crew still searched for a better name.  
>The problem at the moment was that the needle of the instrument wanted to show something-but the poor bearings which the Empire could provide did not allow them to do so. So two of the ships weapons mechanics fitted the bearings from two naval clocks into the machine. (they would not be missed by the "donators" everybody hoped)<br>When they closed the lid all dared to breathe again. Pushing his jewelers glass up, one of the mechanics picked up a phone and made a call.  
>"Meister Frei, would you be so kind? Yes now. Thanks in advance and a good night."<br>"Ups, that late already, not lets see….."  
>All of a sudden the ornate indicator inside the wooden case started to move and then to stay in one direction, shaking only slightly.<br>"Not bad at all Fräulein if I may say so myself - that is going to help!" Fräulein Meikle executed a acceptable courtesy and then looked to the picture of an older blond man on the wall. "Do you think it would please your Patron Saint, this …."  
>"More like mascot then Patron Saint, Frau Meikle, and his name is MacGyver. But yes, I think it would please him greatly, wherever he may be now..."<p>

**Troop Transport "Papenburg", on the Big Ocean**

Ralf Winkler was standing in front of the Cabin of his CO and counted his sins. He had no idea what could be the reason for his summons, but his lesser knowledge about military life had during the last months lead to some embarrassing gaffes he was not aware of when he committed them.  
>To his surprise he was not just greeted by Lt. Schneider, which he expected, but also by a Captain he vaguely recalled seeing before. When he was introduced as Captain von Marwitz he immediately recognized him as the Captain of the 331 Parachute battalion which had fought with their Landwehr company in the battle of Papenburg.<br>Captain von Marwitz started after the greetings:  
>"Good morning Winkler, sit down. We do not have much time to waste, so lets get to it: You may have heard about the accident at the Seeadler? It took 5 of my medics, and I am looking for replacements. You have experience - do you think you can do it?"<p>

"I think so, yes."

"Then welcome to the assault."

" If I may one request? Nobody tells my wife I volunteered, or she will be more dangerous to me than the Dark Elves.."

"Can do! Assemble your stuff-we fly back to the "Adler" in 2 hours after I had some other interviews."

**Same date, Seeadler, on the Big Ocean**  
>Ilthis would normally eat a solitary breakfast but thought it would be a good idea to use this to have a look at the other mages the Germans had managed to recruit for their venture. He watched his Aide passing along the counter where food was distributed and then bring him a tray with the results.<br>He was pleasantly surprised: How did the Germans manage to keep food that fresh at sea? Also the water he drank was somewhat tasteless but obviously clean and fresh, a far cry from the muddy brackish fluid he had expected.  
>He looked around and saw several mages of the Light, Bright and Jade orders sitting at the tables. Many of them stole a glance in his direction when they thought he was not looking. Poor humans, being restricted to only one School of magic! On the other hand they should be thankful they had been thought of at all.<br>Suddenly he felt a strong presence behind him and turned in this direction. An impossibly tall human crouched through the entrance and then erected himself to his 2,10 meters height. Very obviously a member of the Bright Order. Ilthis thought he should be able to place him somewhere but could not. The Mage caught his eye and moved to him.  
>"Ilthis Silvermoon of the Brotherhood of the Tower!"<p>

"Hannes Flammbach of the Bright Order!"

Now that was an interesting revelation: This mage was powerful enough that he had a name even in Saphery - it seemed the Germans were not playing around here.  
>"I have a meeting with the Germans in a few minutes, but I hope that we can meet shortly after that."<br>"I would welcome that, Master Silvermoon."

**Seeadler, Wardroom**  
>The picture of sail ship caught Ilthis´ eye. Looking closer he read the name "Seeadler" was the meaning of that?<br>"This is the original "Seeadler" from nearly a hundred of our years ago. Like this ship she was a converted civilian ship and had an illustrious career. She managed to evade her foes for more than a year, sank more than a dozen ships and killed nobody during the process. A good example to follow, but I fear that this time it is not possible.  
>The name is also a play on our task, so let me introduce on what we plan to do..."<p>

**A habitat Tower in Naggaroth**  
>The Tales describing Lady Moriths beauty are many, describing in various ways a supreme Dark Elf with the sign of Slanesh who could hold the mind (and other parts) of Elves and human in thrall. Currently no casual observer would be able to match the sight in front of him with these tales as her face was coated with blood and less savory substances. Both of her arms were inside a would-be witch who had failed her duel she was to fight for final admission into the cult.<p>

She had been pathetically grateful when Morith spared her life, only to find that her fate was far more cruel then simple death. It was a testament to Lady Morith`s art that she was still clutched in the claws of unbearable pain and ecstasy after all she went through.  
>All of this was of no interest to Morith who`s eyes were turned inward. Her doings had amused one of the demons of Slanesh enough that he gave her what she needed - information. When he (?)...it was finished she looked down and by a quick turn of her hands ruptured blood vessels that would kill her victim eventually.<br>"Hag Graef is going to be assaulted? Now what do we do about that? This could be really interesting." Absentmindedly she licked along her fingers while pondering what course to take. Helping Malus Darkblade without recompense was out of the question – but a help at the right time might help her establish her cult there in the open. So many options-so much excitement to be had…


	9. Chapter 9

_**Happy new Year!**_

**Reichstag, Berlin, Germany**

"Due to the ever increasing discrepancy between our _Anno Domini calendar_ and the _Kaiserlichen Kalender_ (imperial calendar) of the Empire, this House decided with a 63% majority to change date counting to the imperial version. Our Earth calendar will be continued for historic reasons in archivist context.  
>On comming Monday at exact midnight, all calendars are to be changed to Sigmarstag, the 25th Nachhexen 2521 KK (IC). To keep an equal amount of weekend days, the method developed by Prof. Henscher, with reciprocing 2 and 3 day weekends, is to be applied.<p>

In light of the changed circumstances on this new world and the fact that no other ratifying states have crossed over with us, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany suspends the treaties of The Hague and Geneva concerning certain weapon systems.  
>While the ethic guidelines will still be followed, Germany has to potentially use all weapons in her arsenal. There are genocial menaces which cannot be overcome without resorting to weapons banned on Earth."<p>

**Railway Station Nuln, Nuln, the Empire**

While there were other important production centers in the Empire, Nuln was the industrial heart of Sigmar´s Realm. It could be seen in the great Forges of the City and since the arrival of the Germans in the many construction sites. One of the biggest was the Railway Station, which had been partly build into the northwestern city wall and was now being opened. The population of the city had gathered in strength for the first train to arrive and depart Nuln.  
>There would be a big feast after the inauguration of the station. While the single track was an improvisation until the two to the height of engineering built tracks would reach the city later, the social impact was gigantic.<br>Some philosophers of the local university already discussed how it could be that nobody had thought of such a transportation system before. People, Food, Goods could be transported easier and in greater numbers now. The industry of Nuln had begun to think big as well. New sites were erected, old one expanded and even some German firms began to build dependacies in the city.

The railway net of the Empire still stood at the beginning, with only Altdorf and Nuln connected to Germany and Kagoshima now, but kilometer by kilometer, day by day, it was expanded. The elector-counts were many things and extra competitive among each other, but after their visit to Germany, one had to be blind, deaf and dumb to not recognize the advantages of the railway.  
>In one of the few really concerted votes of the Elector-Counts, they pledged themselves to the construction of a nationspanning net of railways.<br>The crowd, from the lowliest beggar to the Elector-Countess herself, began to roar and celebrate when the steady puff-puff-puff of the train´s steam engine could be heard.

**Imperial Palace, Altdorf, the Empire**

"... and so, Your Highness, I needed to tell you this horrific prophecy. All our lives are in jeopardy", a chalk-white Grand Master of the Azyr Order told Emperor Karl-Franz his dream.

The Emperor was shaken, but able to keep it from the knowing eyes of the wizard. "I thank you in the name of the whole Empire. Not knowing the fate which could befall us, would only weaken us more, no matter how horrible the story you told me is.  
>I have to ask: How did your scrying effect get so good? Your farseeing was always a boon to our realm, but in the last months the men and women of the Order of the Heavens are outdoing all your former efforts in range and clarity."<p>

"It is the German effect, your Majesty."

"The Germans? But they still are as magical as a stone, seen as a whole?"

"You are right, Sire, that even their strongest wizards are not advanced for now to exceed the basic cantrips. But they have an overflowing fundus of ideas. In some cases, we just had to finetune the winds a bit to make a leap in usability. Ironic, that our cousins are part of the reason the danger looming on the horizon has become so daunting and that we could predict it at all."

"Yes, Chaos is many things, but unfortunately not really dumb. The Chaos Gods recognize that with Germany at our side, we might someday challenge their grip on the Old World. If what you told me comes to fruition, the battles we have to prepare for, will make Sigmar´s battle at Black Fire Pass look like a skirmish.  
>Please, no word to anybody until I give you the confirmation. We have to prepare in silence for a time to keep a possible panic at bay. Only some trusted people can be given this information."<p>

"I see, your Majesty. And if I may say so, it is the right call."

After the Grandmaster left the Emperor´s rooms, Karl Franz turned to a new feature of his office. A telephone, one of the few in Altdorf. Taking the horn, the ruler of the mightiest nation in the Old World thought about what he would say. _Dear Angela, we have to meet as soon as possible.  
>My seers tell me about an unprecedented attack by Chaos forces. The ruinous Powers want to destroy and remake the Old World in their twisted image once and for all.<br>This attack had been in the making before you arrived, but now Chaos prepares a far more destructive and potent army than before. They see and fear your potential. A Storm of Chaos is brewing at the horizon..._

**A340, 12500 meters above Hag Graef**

The pilots of this A340, nicknamed Kondor, were happy that the first half of this mission was over. These flights were the longest non-stop they ever took, necessitating a second crew to avoid fatigue. The take-offs were always harrowing as the plane was overloaded and would launch only after a long run up on one of Germany's longest runways, preferably into the face of a strong wind.  
>This had become a little better when MTU had rigged up a water injection for the engines. This made full power really spectacular now, with black smoke coming out of the normally well behaved turbines and a truly wretched sound at full power but also increased thrust.<br>The once nicely furnished passenger liner now was practically empty after the cockpit, the cargo area behind the deck full of additional fuel tanks and a small rest room/lounge for the crews.

For the last 10 minutes banks of Cameras were running taking pictures in several angles and wavelengths, adding to the knowledge the German armed forces had about their target. The pictures would be home in 13 hours and would be send to the fleet just in time before the assault.

**Same night, coast close to Hag Graef  
><strong>  
>The commandant of U35 watched the departure of the Special Forces party through his Zeiss Periscope and whished them luck. He had brought them unseen to this point, but now they were on their own. He had met these men, the close confines of his sub made anything else impossible and he pitied any Dark Elf crossing their path-but their mission was to evade all contact and observe.<br>**  
>6 days later, Coast before Hag Graef <strong>

Captain Werner was aware that command of the Seeadler was a blessing and a curse at the same time. While she was the biggest ship the German navy had ever fielded and the most versatile in some respects she was also an improvisation, a maintenance nightmare and an unknown quantity. He suspected the Navy had given him the command as he proposed this abomination which made the made the undertaking possible.

During the Cold War NATO had feared that there were not enough ships to escort the convoys from North America to Europe and protect against Soviet submarines.  
>One proposal to rectify this was Project Aparaho: Place special Containers on a standard container ship and place some Anti-submarine helicopters on it. The project died, mostly because there were too few "surplus" helicopters around. He had used this as inspiration for a ship to carry Helicopters, supplies and men far from Germany.<p>

As the Marco Polo was in Wilhelmshaven´s new Freight Harbour at the time of the Weltensprung she was a natural candidate for such a conversion. She was far bigger than most carriers, so space was not a problem.  
>Since a surprising part of military hardware was containerized or could be made so it should have been easy to stuff everything necessary into the enormous hull-and it was.<br>Systems integration was the real problem and had cost him and his crew as well as the contractors countless hours to work out. In the end the problems could be overcome as Blohm &Voss was the world leader in modular systems on warships and his crew had shown uncanny talent for improvisation.  
>Many of them were older and had been drafted into the expansion of the German Navy. They had brought the knowledge from their civilian jobs into the ship and had never quit working on her problems in "innovative" ways. No wonder that Merchandize from the old MacGyver series was found everywhere on the ship.<p>

Currently he watched from the bridge as the walls and roof of the hangar which covered most of the available deck space telescoped in to reveal the helicopters being readied. A flight deck with elevators would have been preferable, but was not possible in such a short time, so the helicopters were moved on motorized pallets to the areas of the hangar that could be opened. He had two such hangars. The bigger one before the Deckhouse sheltered 12 CH 53 Helicopters, the smaller one to the rear 6 Tiger UHT attack helis. It was not without risk. While the Marco Polo had theoretically space for a lot more helis, the ones used for this mission were a sizeable chunk of the combat ready machines of the new Helikopter Brigade Nord at Fritzlar.  
>Their first task would be to ferry the troops from his transports to the Seeadler. Then they would prepare for the real thing which was to start with Nightfall.<p>

**Same day, U32 close to harbour entrance of Hag Graef**

There is probably no more claustrophobic experience to be had then getting into (or out of) a submarine via the torpedo tubes. Those who do so have to move in frigid water in darkness. The space is so limited that the breathing apparatus has to be removed from the back and pushed forward into the tube. Then inside it no longer possible to move the arms backwards as there is no space to do so. The Combat Divers which just undertook this evaluation getting back into their subs were taking it in stride and were happy with a job they thought of as well done. Whether it worked would be obvious soon enough.

U32 was still not used to the fact that they could use the Radio as much as they wanted and incurred no risk conveying the updated status to the Task Force. It remembered the history buffs among the crew about the "Good Times" of the German U-Boats in WW1 and the beginning years of WW2. But despite the new circumstances, radio silence still was used as much as possible, in case Germany would somehow shifted back to Earth.

**Der Tag, shortly before Midnight, Dragon above the Hag Graef harbour**

For about one year the Drachau had ordered a tighter security and more patrols with only few Druchii knowing why this was advisable. Naturally the tre reasons for the failure of the Raid in Germany had not been published much and was not big news, slave raids went wrong from time to time for all sorts of reasons and this one had been very long-range.  
>Searching the seas for ships on a moonless night seems to be futile, but the cold waters around Hag Greaf contained so much marine life that ships were bound to leave phosphorescent trails which could be seen quite well at night, especially by an Elf.<p>

Actually the Dragon rider saw something different on the limits of his patrol area - a glow on the water he could not place at all. Flying closer to this he suddenly saw something like a long pole spewing fire from one end rising rapidly from the glow highlighting a strange ship. That the pole started to tilt in his direction had barely registered when he instinctively changed course. To his horror the weapon (what else could it be) changed course as well and closed the distance between them in heartbeats.  
>The blastFragmentation warhead of the ESSM Missile shredded the Dragon nearly as well as the Rider. They were the first Elf deaths of this Operation, but there were so many more that their names were all but forgotten.

**Frigate "Sachsen", shortly before the Harbour entrance of Hag Graef**

"Tell CIC to scratch one Dragon. Unless otherwise directed we will begin the Bombardment as per Plan."  
>The boatswain began to contact the Admirals staff aboard "Seeadler" while Captain Schmaeling stepped forward to the Officers and Warrants of the arty station. "Gentlemen, I believe it is time. Begin fire as planned."<br>He walked to the bridge widows and watched as the big barrel of his main gun rose and the turret turned to the planned azimuth. The turret and gun looked strange, oversized and out of place on his ship-and they were. The former 76 mm rapid fire gun, so useful against aerial targets, had been replaced with a 155mm/L52 gun normally on top of a Panzerhaubitze 2000.

One of the best guns on Earth before the Weltensprung it had enormous range and firepower for this calibre. Of course the guns could not be switched so easily, but there was an elastic mounting that reduced recoil to manageable levels and many gun parts had been replaced by corrosive resistant ones.  
>Even so great care had to be taken that the interior of the Gun Turret was not too much exposed to the salt air. Inside the turret the long-promised power assisted loaders had been installed so that long arty missions were possible without undue crew fatigue.<br>The boatswain in the turret addressed his crew: "Ok folks: You know that infantry is the Queen of the Battlefield, right? And that Artillery is the King of the Battlefield? Well we all know what the King does for the Queen. So get to it, we have our work cut out."

Shortly thereafter the guns on Sachsen and her two sister ships opened fire. As they wanted to avoid "collateral" damage and so not to waste ammo the special capabilities of the Monarc guns were used to max: a phased radar on the front of each turret measured the flight path of the projectiles. Where the shells diverted from the projected path coded signals were send to them and the fuses in front of the shell deployed small spoilers to change the flight path accordingly. This could only influence the range, not the bearing, but this kind of fire mission it was more than enough.  
>Before the first shell hit the 3 guns had launched nearly a ton of steel and explosives.<br>The main quay of Hag Graef sported many ships of various descriptions. There was everything from sleek skiffs and hydra ships to the less elegant trade ships that were at least as necessary for the life of Hag Graef as the better known warships.

All, these ships had two things in common: They were mostly empty with the crews on Land. And they would burn very well. Made with beautiful craftsmanship from dry wood, sealed with pitch and tar and powered by cloth and rope and well ventilated they were an arsonists dream.  
>Said arsonist would have given much for the munitions now raining down on the unprotected ships. At the appropriate height small burster charges ruptured the shells and distributed their payload of white phosphorus. Officially only used as "marker" or to block sight lines they were able to ignite everything in their path-and so they did.<br>In less than 5 Minutes practically all ships currently moored in harbour were hopelessly on fire and the bombardment was shifted elsewhere.  
>The few crewmembers and guards left on board jumped into the frigid waters to escape the fiery death which otherwise awaited them. The ones unlucky enough to be hit by pieces of the white phosphorus found to their horror that the phosphor would ignite again as soon as the lifted the parts hit above the water, killing most of the so effected in painful ways.<p>

**Seedler, 20 Miles from Hag Graef**

Admiral Lerbs looked at the big LED Screens that some useful soul had rigged up to display the data that kept flowing in via the various data links of the navy as well as via wireless from others. Just now additional pictures from helicopter drones were displayed on two screens and showed the fire which spread over the harbor. He was aware that no plan survived contact with the enemy and that Germany did not have a big tradition on naval landings. On the other hand he could use wireless communication without any restraints and was sure that the combination of rapid, reliable communications, real-time intelligence, well-motivated troops and a shitload of firepower could overcome all obstacles in front of him. Beside that, it was time to write a new chapter in Germany´s naval history.  
>The only wild card in the game was magic, it remained to be seen how this would play out.<p>

**Mountain close to Hag Graef**

Helmut Bär had not joined the navy so he could climb mountains for a living-and here he was, having hauled a big load of equipment up a mountain that overlooked Hag Greaf from the east. He was pretty sure that he had arrived undetected-this area was extremely barren-and that most of the excitement during the next hours was to keep the various bits and pieces he and his team had schlepped so far up running.  
>Besides keeping a camera running for the Navy he now started to lay a marking laser so that several shells from the bombardment squadron would land exactly where intended. Too bad there was no longer a GPS system, it would have made the job easier. For him and his team it was too late, but maybe the next generation of soldiers would have GPS again.<br>While his team member laid the Laser he kept scanning the surroundings with his Starlight Binox. When he spotted movement in his peripheral vision he quickly focused there only to find that a large group of Helicopters approached the Harbor from the East.

**CH53 Helicopter on Approach to Hag Graef**

Ilthies felt numb when he looked outside the Helicopter. He had been incredulous and felt slighted when he heard that he and the human mages were mostly there to protect the Germans from Dark Elven magic.  
>The other Mages were more convinced of that tactic as they had witnessed something called a "firepower demonstration". Whatever they saw, it could not be any more convincing than the tableaux in front of him. The Quay and the ships lying at the roads were a sea of fire and the artillery fire had shifted to warehouses in the harbour district. Whatever was in these warehouses seemed to burn nearly as enthusiastically as the ships.<p>

From the periphery of his vision he saw the ripple launch of several "missiles" from the German ships which arched over the Elven city to explode beyond it in the air. He thought he saw a dragon shape backlighted in one of the explosions, but that could have been a figment of his imagination.  
>He nearly missed two small underwater explosions close to the harbor entrances and wondered what it was when he spotted a line of bubbles across the bay-somehow the Germans managed to blow the Iron Chain which closed the entrance into the harbor proper.<br>A flickering light to the front was the next to catch his eye. Strangely they were under the helicopters in front of him but did not seem to harm them. Actually they looked a little like a cannon shooting in back and front at the same time-but at what were they shooting?

He was forcibly put back into his seat by an impetuous crewmember who quickly pulled his harness taught. He was about to protest this treatment when the helicopter rapidly changed altitude and the doors of the helicopters were opened to the roaring slipstream.  
>Seconds later the crew swung out weapons and started to fire long streams of shells at something unseen. When the side door gunner in his field of view swiveled the gun in a new direction the muzzle fire revealed the ugly shape of a harpy before several shells ripped her apart.<br>Then the big helicopter gave a lurch and a sickening sound was heard from the top of it-this is when he started into the litanies of protection. He had been in battle before, many times and was certainly no coward but things were happening too fast that he had no way to cope. His battles had also been quite violent but had taken hours or days to unfold. Here the destruction of the enemy happened in so far less time.

**Tiger UHT**

The Gunner in the front seat of the Tiger had a much better and less obstructed view than Ilthies but was also far more busy so he could only concentrate on his small part of the battle. Shooting down the swarm of Harpies that had risen from their caves to attack the strange invaders.  
>If he would have the time to reflect on it he would have been more than happy to have a gun under his helicopter-this was new. Before the Weltensprung the German army had rejected the GIAT 30 mm gun of the French Tigers because of excessive recoil, but the replacement had never been fitted.<p>

Not being able to go back to the big brother across the Atlantic when things were tight focused the mind and budget - the Tigers got a 30 mm recoilless cannon of incredible firepower and accuracy for such a light helicopter. Presently he fired it in 3-round bursts at the bandits in front of him as quickly as he could aquire new targets. Together with his wingmate they cleared a path for the heavier transport helicopters to follow. Whatever they missed the CH 53 could take themselves with the door guns.  
>They could already see the LZ and hoped that his colleagues were as successful in clearing it as he was shooting Harpies.<br>Harpies are not very intelligent - while they have limited vocabulary they are not tool users and need no clothing or other amneties to spend thoughts on. Their legendary temper also limits social interaction. But even so the Harpies learned very quickly that tonight they were no predators and that something else had taken their place in the food chain. Taking more than 50% losses in 5 minutes of intense combat without anything to show for it they withdrew from combat. Flying to the hinterland they avoided their beastmasters which might have a different opinion.

**Hellhole below Hag Greaf  
><strong>  
>Ulf Grimnison was still thinking it had been the right thing to spit on his warden. Unfortunately that had no resulted in him being quickly killed. The damn Elves had thrown him into a hellhole-several meters deep the drop was sure to cause injury but not to kill. Now he could see into the communal cell he and his former comrades had called home through a small hole-and his former cellmates could see and hear him die so he could perform a last service for his masters as an example what not to do.<p>

He would have gladly borne it to get out of this miserable existence if the Druchii would not have thrown the rest of his chaingang in with him. They had refused to beat him into death. Just as well, a dwarf should die surrounded by good rock and good comrades and so he would.  
>What was puzzling was the sounds which were transmitted by the rock around him-something big was happening, but he doubted that it would have anything to do with him.<br>A small movement made the bone ends in his leg grind against each other. It did not take much not to scream-he did no longer have the power for that.

**Airspace above harbour**

The shell fired by the Sachsen was special-instead of spinning rapidly along its axis for stabilization it had unfolded fins shortly after firing. Counting the prescribed time from that the shell started looking for a special light spot in it`s field of view. It quickly found the spot which pulsed at the right frequency at more or less the place it was supposed to be and steered for this spot.  
>It was painted by a laser that was pointed at one of the towers of Hag Graef the freed slaves were reasonably sure had to do with the Druchii government. Subsequent air recon had confirmed that to a degree of certainty which had allowed the planners of the raid to designate them legitimate targets.<p>

The shell impacted in the lower third of the tower slightly off center and penetrated the outer wall easily. It barely touched the opposite wall when the fuse finally fired and the burster charge detonated. 3 Kilogram of modern explosives can do terrible damage in confined places-and did. The blast wave ripped apart ceilings and floors, blasted Windows open and shredded doors not to speak of the inhabitants close to the explosion.  
>Shortly after the impact the first items began to burn, something which spread rapidly from lamp oil spill to parchment roll to wooden flooring. The heat of the flames made the air rise quickly inside the slender tower, pulling fresh cool air in through the windows and rents below. Within minutes the interior of the tower was an unspeakable hell with temperatures exceeding 1000 degree and the wind rushing through the tower and leaving the upper windows and roof making the tower sound like an organ pipe from hell. It was loud enough to drown the screams of those trapped in the upper floors unfortunate enough not to have died already – almost.<p>

**Assault Boat inside Hag Graef Harbour**

The 3 Boats speeding across the inner Harbor of Hag Graef were quite unique. Constructed by the Lürssen yards who had built fast attack boats ever since there was such a thing they had been optimized to fit onto the rescue boat davids of the Troopships.  
>By any measure before the Weltensprung they were nothing special- speed around 25 knots and only very light armor in few areas, but there were few things on the Warhammer seas which could do them any harm.<br>2 were configured as gunships carrying a mix of 27mm autocannons, automatic grenade launchers and machine guns. As the harbour had been declared a free fire zone they happily blasted everything moving which was not German preparing the path for the 3rd boat whose payload was more special.  
>They all headed for the enormous mouth of a cave at the foot of the Cliff on one side of Hag Graef. It lead to a huge cave inside said cliffs, a combination of a natural feature, elvenkind work and the remnants of things best not speculated too much about.<br>In here the most important and valuable ships of the Druchii were laying up in reserve for the time when major warfare was afoot. They were utterly invulnerable from the German weapons employed on the outer harbor with such effect. Fortunately some of the slaves knew of this cavern and so a plan was passed to do something about it.

Some 100 meters inside the tunnel the two gunboats took up overwatch stations for their working sister. From the deck of this ship a hydraulic platform rose, quite similar to the ones used to repair city lights and such. 3 sappers used drills and explosive bolts to fix cylinders in a line into the ceiling. The platform descended again and the boat backed up some meters when the cylinders vanished in strangely muffled explosions. Going back up the sappers looked at the straight holes the shaped charges had blown and sprayed them with water so they would cool down sufficiently. Next they would put 50 kg Charges of PBX into the holes and seal them with quick setting cement before disengaging. The charges were guaranteed to bring down the ceiling and seal the tunnel for a long, long time. Even for Germany it would take some time to clear such debris, but for a civilization without power cranes and explosives beyond black powder….

The Boatswain in charge of this boat became aware that the boat guarding the inner part of the tunnel fired again on something he could not see. They ceased after some bursts but his wireless contained messages about getting his thumb out and natives going frisky. He basically ignored them as there is no hurrying man handling explosives as potent as the ones employed here.

**Re-opened High Security Cell Block Stuttgart-Stammheim, Germany**

Jasla´s brain was in some kind of overload mode. If she would have looked around, her fellow Elf prisoners were quite similar affected. On the TV they could see the destruction of their home city.  
>Since the Dark Elves during interrogation always stressed that Khaine had given them all people not able to defend themselves properly as playthings, this would serve as a demonstration.<br>While the feed from the Seeadler was edited to keep military security, the images of the burning Towers and the firestorm eating away the habour were impressive. And for all their displayed _superiority_ the Elves were deeply affected. Jasla was among those first to fathom that maybe they had bitten more off than Naggaroth could safely chew.

**Chancellory, Berlin, Germany**

Hetkuning Olaf Urnulfson of the Bjornling Great Clan watched the pictures from the other side of the world in far more amiable ambiente. In a soft comfortable chair, a stein of local Doppelbock beer sitting on a nearby table.  
>Angela Merkel had already recognized that this Clan leader was more capable than he tried to let on. The Norse had only nipped sparingly from the Stein and the Chancellor was convinced, the order for something like good Norse Mead had been made for image reasons alone. The tall, bearded warrior was impressed by what he saw. In Norsca only the strong lived to see another day, but those intelligent as well could rise high.<br>Olaf internally patted his own shoulder for his decision to reach out to the _soft Southerners_ after the Swinemünde disaster. There had been major grumbling among the more radical and chaotic members of the Clans under his leadership, but like Ylva Ormsdotter, the Skaelings leader, he had surmised there was more to these newcomers. And when he returned home, others would see it too.

**Ministry of Economics and Technology, Berlin, Germany**

Olaf Urnulfson had no idea that one of his greatest rivals, the one he had thought about mere minutes before, was in Berlin as well. Hetdrottning Ylva Ormsdotter had seen the attack on Hag Graef too.  
>But she, unlike Olaf, had lost a greater propotion of her bloodthirsty Clan members at Swinemünde and so had even earlier begun to build up relations. It had been the only way. They lost a lot of needed warriors and to survive more trade had to be done. Fortunately for her Great Clan, they had things to sell to the Germans. The newcomers had a ravenous appetite for the high-grade iron ore the Skaeling Great Clan mined. And the Germans had developed a sweet tooth for Skadi fruits and Torghjop berries. But what the Germans equally liked was hard information. They payed very well for good informations the various Dragonships brought with them from their voyages.<br>Due to the already established relations Ylva was far more interested in haggling with the German economics minister about the next quarter deliveries. And why Philipp Rösler looked like the people Ylva only had seen once before on the longest, farest journey she had ever made. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Hag Graef harbour – Quay**

Paul Müller left the CH53 helicopter at a run taking position behind a piece of fallen masonry. Quickly counting his men the freshly baked "Feldwebel" ordered them to advance by squad to their assigned post - the mouth of the causeway leading from the City to the harbor. He was assigned a spot for this squad by the Lt., thought it to be actually good and directed his men to improve it. A shell had left a convenient crater and one wall of a former guardhouse was still substantial enough to use. The Lt. asked him to take care of the special party they brought along as his position offered the best cover the German company occupied. He greeted the huge flame-haired mage and some less flamboyant mages which were here to make sure the Dark Elves played fair on the magic front.  
>" Good evening, Veldweibel. We will be your guests tonight if I understand correctly?"<p>

"Yes sir. Can you please position yourself over there behind that wall? It should give good cover and you can still observe."  
>"Sounds reasonable young man. Now we try to emulate good visitors and brought you a little gift."<br>One of the helpers unrolled a cloth at the end of a pole. When completely unfolded it showed a fair, if flamboyant rendering of his Unit`s colors. He was about to comment on the uselessness of such a flag in modern warfare when he realized that something was _different _about that banner. For one thing it seemed to glow slightly and unseen things nearly showed themselves in his peripheral vision. It should have been unsettling but for some reasons was not.

"This, Veldweibel, eh, Feldwebel, is a mage-breaker, a flag that will keep your men safe from enemy spells. Take care of this flag and it will take care of you. Not that we will not do our utmost to undo what the accursed "Spitzohren" will try to do to us. Please try to keep our precious hides in one piece while we do that."  
>Paul Müller rather liked the self-depreciating mage, he was not what he had expected but seemed rather competent.<br>"Ok sir, this is the company's position, we are at the left flank as you can see. Because of the quay behind us we have no real rally point. That means when the enemy comes this way we have to hold them here and there is no other way the enemy may come."

"There will be quite a lot of them and quite few of us."  
>"Yes, there will be the problem to bury them all." Like so many soldiers and civilians in Germany, Paul too had seen the barbarism of the Dark Elves. Time for payback.<p>

The sound of a small diesel engine and a lot of rattling of metal on stone stopped their conversation.  
>"Ha, they startled me again, and I have seen them before. Compared to some other machines you have they seem quite small."<br>"Believe me Herr Flammbach, they are potent enough for what we have in mind tonight. And if they are not enough we can always call our big brother at sea."

As if brought upon by the conversation the freight train rumble in the Sky indicating another salvo into the City reminded them to take their positions.

**Slave pens **

The Keeper of Slaves was livid. Only once before an invading army had entered Naggaroth and it had to be here and now of all places. He had been awakened by sounds he could not identify and quickly alarmed the Guards. Most of them he assigned to watch the slaves, it would not pay for them to get any ideas. Best to break some heads early on, then the rest would keep quiet.  
>He then ventured outside of the Gate building to be greeted by a sight he simply could not place: Big Things which looked a little bit like Dwarf Gyrocopters grown to enormous proportions were landing not far from his Gatehouse and from the back of them Soldiers and strange horseless chariots emerged.<br>He was still trying to decide whether to retreat or attack when a 30 mm fusillade from a Tiger helicopter wiped out half of his guards. That made the decision easy, he was too far from the Gate already to get back to safety so he could only assault.  
>He did not get far before he was something like a blinking light in the door of one of the "Gyrocopters" and felt a hammer blow to his chest. How he came to lie on his back looking at the sky whose clouds reflected the red flickering glare he could not explain and then it was far too late for any explanations.<p>

**Gatehouse to the Slave Pens**

Ralf Winkler watched the preparations of the assault on the Salve Pens Gate with interest, obviously the assault would go through soon. A voice close to his ear startled him and served as a reminder that he should better look at his surroundings more - even if they were less entertaining they might be more dangerous if ignored. Still too much a civilian at heart obviously.  
>The voice belonged to Aoelus, the aide to Master Ilthies who looked around it seeming wonderment. "A question if I am allowed?"<p>

Ralf nodded and answered,"If it is when they start the assault - soon, more I do not know myself."

"No it is not that. I saw you carrying a different "rifle" from the others in your unit. Are you one of these _snipers_ I heard about?"

"No, quite to the contrary, I am just a medic. Until a few days ago I was supposed to stay at the ships, but we had an accident where we lost some medics and here I am. I am supposed to help with the drop-off point for the injured and slaves-the same place you and your master will be. Unfortunately nobody had the time to check me out on the MP7 that the medics of this outfit carry, so I still have my G3K from my old unit. A bit heavy and quite a handful when you fire it, but whatever you hit with it will know it has been kissed."

He was about to ask the Elf for the reason behind his question when he saw his face more closely. Obviously he was not the only nervous being here and also idle conversation seemed to help both Elf an Man.  
>A series of explosions and a lot of screaming and shooting from the Gate signaled the beginning of the assault and ended their conversation.<p>

**Inside the slave pens**

The Commander of the Druchii Guard detachment still cursed the stupid keeper of Slaves. What did this idiot think? Gallivanting outside with a third of his Elves, he could have made much better use in here where he knew the area and where he could make the enemy pay for every meter taken.  
>He had heard a lot of explosions and surmised that the enemy might use them to wreck the Gate so he retreated about 50 meters back into the main way between the cells. His caution paid off when a series of explosions turned the strong Gate into a lot of wooden shrapnel which would have mowed down his Guards.<br>_Now for the counterattack,_ when the enemy was still trying to push soldiers through the gap and tried to get an idea of the surroundings. He led his unit into a strong charge right into the dust cloud that took the place of the gates.  
>Nothing could have surprised him more than the 2 horseless carriages which emerged from the cloud. Not much higher than him they did not seem so dangerous until they opened fire. The effects of a 20 mm autocannon and a machine gun from each was just horrific, it wiped out his Guards in seconds. Because of his better armor he was still alive to feel how the chains of one of these vehicles crushed his chest.<p>

**Wiesel Tank, inside the Slave pens**

Ulrich Stoiber told his driver to follow the Paratrooper who guided them through the remains of the second set of Gates into the subterranean thoroughfare that connected all the underground slave pens.  
>As the Harbour needed lots of slaves for ships and logistics and slaves were a much traded commodity the Elves had established a huge underground complex for holding these slaves which went quite a way back from the entrance close to the mole.<br>The extend of the complex and the fact that it was chiseled from stone by hand told Ulrich a lot about how many slaves had been in here for how long, things he did not want to dwell upon presently.  
>Fortunately the surviving slaves that had been saved from the Druchii Galleys had been correct and there was more than enough space in the main ways of the Pens to maneuver his tank(ette). This was unusual in many ways: Normally tanks should not enter such confined spaces and his tank, for the first time he could remember, was the toughest and best armed vehicle around.<p>

The Wiesel (Weasel) is a very strange tank in that it is smaller and lighter than an US Hummvee, but better armored and armed with a 20mm Cannon and a machine gun. He was the King of the Hill in here!  
>Two of these tankettes can be carried in a single CH53 helcopter and the Germans had landed several in support of the operations.<br>As soon as the infantry assigned to his tank was there he started his way deeper into the pens. There was no real resistance for the first couple of 100 meters, and then a group of overseers tried to ambush them when they had just passed another cell entrance. The tank that drove a little to the back and side of him got about half of them, the rest were divided between the accompanying infantry and his tank which gut a couple when his driver engaged the reverse gear of a couple of meters. After that it was mostly smooth going until they approached the main guard shack deep inside the pens. The Guards had erected a barrier from carts and bales across the thoroughfare and were pelting his tank with Crossbow bolts.  
>A couple of 3 round bursts from their autocannon showed the Druchii how flimsy their cover was for real and the machine guns took care of those who wanted to flee.<br>He drove carefully forward and aimed his cannon through the door leading into the Guards quarters. Squeezing off some more rounds he made sure that the first meters would be easier for the infantry to storm.  
>A new group of infantry attached themselves to his tank and then they advanced to the end of the cells-from here there was only a long tunnel into Hag Graef and as long as he and his fellow tank driver was parked here nothing would come into the slaves pens.<br>He just hoped the Druchii would be stupid enough to try-he had seen only very little of what went on in these pens-but that was already too much.

**Seeadler, CIC**

Admiral Lerbs saw the collapse of a copula which was said to be a part of the temple of Khaine with satisfaction: God of murder indeed. He checked with his staff about progress.  
>"Sir, all targets on our List have been hit. The demolition team is just withdrawing from the tunnel entrance. We will switch the arty now to support and start with the evacuation of the slaves."<br>He acknowledged and promptly started to worry, so far everything has gone to plan. This was not a natural state of affairs in his experience. Murphy and the enemy were to make their entrance soon, it was just important to catch them in time.

**Protestant Kindergarten, Landstuhl, Germany**

Andrea Holm waited, together with some other parents, for her younger daughter to leave the Kindergarten. One of the other parents waiting was reading the Bild newspaper, leaning against the wall. His position enabled the attractive 30-somethings mom to read the frontpage with ease.  
>The main headline this day was rather humourous. <em>The Nipponese and Empire "Invasions"<em> were rolling over Germany, _two events, one could for a change be glad about!_

Andrea, like some other persons reading this, chuckled. It was a true statement. The number of peaceful first contacts with the other nations on this world was depressingly low. The only bright light on that front was, that among those few were a great number of nations nobody had had any hope for in this context. Who would have thought that for example the Hung, dangerous steppe nomads, were actually eager for basic trade, based on the available descriptions?  
>Before the Weltensprung, Andrea had been interested, but not overly so, in politics. Now, every German worth hisher salt was really interested. This world was full of variable dangers and anything positive was a reason to celebrate.  
><em>"Here in the Old World, the Empire and the Nipponese are the only ones who really accept us. Okay, Kislev, some border principalities and several of the Norse tribes are on that way as well now, but beside that...<em>  
><em>While we have good relations to some of the Tilean regional states, it is not with the whole nation. Estalia cares only for trade with us, not cool, but acceptable. And the Bretons... after all these battles and skirmishes in the west, you do not have to be a brainmonster to know what that means. God, it is only a few weeks since Bild published the first ideas for a new version of Wacht am Rhein, the Wacht am Reik (Watch on the Reik), to the shrill countervoices of the opposition!"<em>

The changes on all levels of society were very easy to see. Being totally cut off from the cultural life on Earth, Germany had not only to reinvent several things, but new external sources came into play, hence the Invasion headline by the Bild.  
>Andrea´s second daughter was 5, but even at her young age, the changes were profound. Her Kindergarten was one of those where children were taught some basics of foreign languages. In the past, this had been English and or French. In the new Now, English was confined to Albion, which itself was a rather closed society. So the need for English simply had vanished. French, despite some differences between Breton and modern French, retained some use due to Bretonnia just sitting in the West, but relations were icy.<br>With Landstuhl being located in the Southwest of Germany, relatively close to the Nipponese, the Kindergarten had decided half a year earlier to now teach the children the main dialect of Reikspiel and Nipponese. Reikspiel as a variant of German was easy for the kids, but Nipponese was a bit more difficult.

**Galley "Wesir Salagud", close to the Lustrian Coast**

Boom-Boom-Boom...  
>That was the rhythem Hamid lived after for months now. He was filthy, but with very musculous arms. His back was free of whip scars, but that was mainly because of the magic tattoo on his tongue.<br>_"If your God is so almighty as you make him to be, he will come to your rescue. Butto make your blasphemy more interesting, we will give you a magic sign on your tongue before sending you to the oars. The least you can do for your try to sedition is working for this city - until your body gives out._  
><em>But I am sure you want to know about the tattoo. Whipping you will make you a matyr and we know about your taboos. Anytime you now open that worthless guzzle of yours in praise of your god or so, you will additionally make a pass at the holders around. I am sure you will be very popular with the crew...less with your fellow slaves, but that is life!<em>  
><em>If I read your gaze correctly, you want to know about your comrades, yes? Good, the tall one with that prominent nose is now in Eunuch training for a prominent citizen of Al Ahak. And the one with those verses tattoed on his amrs was a main participant in the last temple service. I have to say, for some guys so boastful of their god, he broke pathetically in the face of Khaine´s power. But as a sacrifice he worked well.<em>

To this day Hamid could hear the voice of the Vizir, but it did not matter to him so much any longer. The first two weeks on the ship broke something inside him. So he was not overly interested when the crow´s nest called down to the captain. "Ship on intercept course! Ulthuan colours. They want to parley!"

**Hag Graef, Causeway to City  
><strong>  
>Over open ground infantry cannot storm machine guns. It does not matter how many soldiers you bring, as long as the other side has a number of working machine guns it simply does not work.<br>During the first battle of the Somme the British artillery fired 1.5 million shells within 7 days AND detonated mines under the German lines. Still they suffered 10000 losses within one hour and in no place reached the target of their plans.  
>The Dark Elves had no arty preparation, no machine guns of their own and no rifles. The result of the first two assaults was therefore never in question-they were wiped out with close to 90% losses.<br>It was time to try something else. Some of the city's best Mages tried to put a spell on the German troops. So far this had not worked well as there was resistance, but a combined effort should do the trick.  
>Also they wanted to try something new. Even before the Germans had entered the scene Musket fire from Human regiments or High Elven longbows had a nasty tendency to slay the Druchii warriors before they ever could engage in hand-to-hand combat.<br>So the beastmasters of Hag Graef had bred a new, tough species of War Hydra. Their legendary toughness had been enhanced by Iron Plates fixed to their torsos, making them slower, but even harder to kill.  
>The sir above the German position was a fireworks of sparks and other effects when spell and counterspell raged for supremacy.<p>

Suddenly something gave and the end of the causeway disappeared in what seemed to be a local winter storm, effectively breaking the line of sight and making it very hard for the Germans to open fire effectively. Still a lot of bullets came from that side, but their effectiveness was far lower than before.  
>In the back of the huge Hydras the Hag Graef`s guards advanced, feverishly hoping that they could take revenge on their earlier losses.<br>Inside the artificial Ice Hell the wireless operator tried for the 3rd time to make his hands perform the necessary keystrokes to call in artillery fire, but failed again due to the cold which had so suddenly come.

**Assault Boat leaving Hag Graef Harbour**

The 3 Assault Boats sped out of the harbour, seeking a rendezvous with their mother ship when the first boats all of the sudden flipped up as if it had hit a underwater ski jump. While it did not flounder upon landing the engines stalled, either because of damage to them or a stunned operator.  
>The two other boats drove in a circle to loose speed and close with their stricken sister when they saw an enormous tentacle rising from the sea and wrapping itself around the boat. It started rocking the boat violently so that some crewmembers were thrown overboard.<br>Because there were still others on board the gunners of the fellow boats could only helplessly watch the destruction.  
>Only when a equally enormous head broke the water the gunners had something to apply their anger to as it was far enough from the stricken sailors. Some of the autocannon shells hit the target, but the result was that the head disappeared and with it the majority of the boat.<br>While the boat with the sappers quickly rescued the few sailors which were ditched into the frigid water the remaining gun boat kept a nervous watch. Looking around the gunner of the machine gun position of the other side saw a lot of other shapes which started to appear on the waters.

**Seeadler **

Admiral Lerbs looked at the rapidly evolving threat board which showed lots of new contacts in the water. Both sonar and infrared revealed Sea Monsters which had not be seen before. Weather they had stayed on seabed or were hidden in some fold of the rugged coast line was a question for the postmortem, solving this problem came first.  
>He also became aware that the Company blocking the causeway seemed to have problems and was incommunicado-another issue to apply his limited resources to.<br>Ordering his bombardment squadron to put a protective fire mission in the middle of the causeway he started to order his ships around to counter the newly revealed maritime threat.

"**Bremen", close to Hag Graef **

The Captain of the Frigate Bremen had already started to change course and speed when the Admiral`s staff relayed his new orders-his escort mission gave him that much leeway.  
>The Dark Elves offered him two kinds of targets: Sea Snakes which attacked above the water and were herded by a rider and some kind of overgrown calamari which mostly stayed submerged.<br>He ordered his Sea Lynx helicopter to take care of the Tentacle beast and set a course for the nearest group of Sea Snakes.  
>In the background he heard how the Crew of the Sonar guided the helicopter close to the first targets and then saw the huge water fountains which were caused by the depth charges that were used to kill the Sea Monsters.<br>Bremen had experience there, a couple of months before they had to hunt some monsters which had attacked Trawlers fishing in the Sea of Claws. The much more modern lightweight torpedoes normally employed for hunting submarines had proven unsuitable as they did not accept the "Critters" as a viable target. Therefore the depth charge had been reintroduced into the German navy.

By now "Bremen" had shortened the range to the Sea Snakes sufficiently that she could open fire on them without endangering any other German ships. While her 76mm gun was much smaller than the 155mm ones on the bombardment squadron, the rate of more than 1 shot per second was quite impressive. The 27 mm autocannons also opened fire.  
>While the 76 mm gun killed the Sea Serpents outright the autocannon just wounded them enough to disobey the commands of their beastmasters, in many cases simply diving and leaving the Battlefield, which did not please their riders at all. Not that they survived long enough to really care, but still…<br>The Kraken were a different matter. While the first strikes with depth charges were successful in killing their intended targets the waters in the areas effected were nearly opaque to Sonar after the explosions for a while. This allowed the Kraken not immediately effected to close with their targets. The Sonar Crews found that they could "drive" their targets by blasting them with high-power active sonar, but that was only a temporary solution.

Especially the Kraken which had attacked the assault boats proved to be persistent and obviously wanted another bite.  
>The Captain of the Bremen had recalled his Helicopter already for a rearmament and planned an assault on the Kraken when he was called off by the Admiral`s staff on "Seeadler".<br>He was about to protest when his sonar called a new high-speed contact. It took the "Seahake" torpedo little time to close the distance to target at 50 knots. It was controlled by glass fire from U32 who got the data from their active sonar. The rules for submarine warfare got severely rewritten that night as stealth became a lesser issue during combat. The aftermath of the Battle would see to the installation of high-power sonar on all ships.  
>Some of the the "monsters" on sea could even be killed by blasting them with sonar.<br>The explosion caused by the torpedo was spectacular enough; 260 kg of modern explosives tend to do that. While the sonar environment was sufficiently muddied that nobody could check the issue was never in doubt. The scavengers would eat well the next weeks. 

"**Sachsen" Wardroom  
><strong>  
>Fräulein Meikle readjusted the "Magic Indicator" to weather magic upon the urgent request by the German sailors. It seemed that some of their forces had come under magical attack. She did not like the short name that the Germans had given her creation, but it was to be expected. Still she was pleased that the indicator finally did what she had aimed at for so long: It indicated the strongest source of a specific magical activity. It would be interesting to explore what other things might be possible with the help of the Germans.<br>She watched with baited breath as the indicator started to move quickly into one direction. The speed with which it settled on a bearing and stayed there showed the strength of the magic employed-obviously great.  
>"I do not think the indicator will get any better" she instructed the rating besides her. Taking a look at the display below the "indicator" the rating picked up a phone and called "we have a bearing of 271, seems to be a strong one sir"<br>A short call to "Hessen" gave another bearing, which was enough to give an area of search.

**Seeadler  
><strong>  
>Admiral Lerbs watched with his staff the pictures send by the drone hovering close to the coordinates provided by the new sensors. A Crystal dome covered the top of a slender tower which was so ubiquitous in Hag Graef.<br>The picture from the drone was not so clear that individuals could be recognized, but that some ritual was taking place there was obvious. Checking the available resources he had detailed some Tigers to take care of this.  
>All of a sudden the picture showed the crystal dome shattering and the ritual going down in flames when the two attack helicopters used their cannons to make sure nobody would do any magicking any longer.<br>Kicking himself for paying attention to small details when he was in charge of the whole battle he turned his back to the screens and tried to regain an overview. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Gate House into the Slave Pens**

Ralf Winkler was assembling another base frame for stretchers when he saw "it". A Grenade had opened a chest in what used to be an office in the Gate house and now was commandeered as the drop of point for the injured of the assault and the slaves liberated.  
>"It" was a rather beautiful amulet showing a dove. As it was very different from what Dark Elves aesthetics he had so far seen he surmised that it was taken from one of the slaves when he entered his Pens. It seemed to draw him in and so he rationalized that it would make a great gift to his wife and that the best place for keeping it safe would be around his neck under the shirt.<br>He got the last of the frames assembled in time to see the first injured Paratroopers and the freed slaves arrive at the drop off point. Quickly taking his place in the team manning the receiving team he started to divide the Slaves into 40 person groups so they could be flown out, checking the groups for anybody who was too injured to be flown out without at least some first aid.  
>He was not so shocked about the status of many slaves as were some of his co-medics as he had seen the work of the Druchii before, but it was hard to remain untouched enough to keep working efficiently. The slaves all had lesions from their cuffs, most had ugly welts and the skin tone spoke of lack of sunlight and a bad diet.<br>The worst for most of the slaves was that they were quite obviously on drugs keeping them docile. The only good thing about that was that the slaves were not offering any resistance when they were herded into the Transport Helicopters as quickly as possible.

**Causeway to City**

The extreme cold and wind was gone as quickly as it came and allowed Paul Müller a view of the causeway again-unsurprisingly he did not like the view. Because of the spell the Germans had not been able to pour effective fire into the Druchii troops, so they had advanced until 300 meters in front of his lines.  
>The War Hydras had proven to be remarkably resistant to the German fire, even the 20 mm cannon fire from the Wiesel tanks did not bring them down as quickly as could be hoped. He started looking for his "Panzerfaust" team when he saw the concussion from their position. The firing of a Panzerfaust is always spectacular because of the back blast whereas the hit at the Target seemed somewhat muted. This was actually a misconception as the shaped charge vented cooper plasma at more than 8000 meters per second into the chest of the Hydras without wasting energy on fireworks. Having been constructed to disable well build Main Battle Tanks the crude armor of the Hydras did not offer appreciable resistance to the warheads.<br>When the "mobile cover" of the Elves was taken away they started to sprint to the German lines only to find themselves in a world of hurt. The Paratroopers had so far kept some weapons in reserve which were now employed. Automatic grenade launchers lobbed 400 grenades per minute into the approaching troops, with each Grenade killing practically everything in a 5 meters radius. Machine guns, especially from the tanks and the autocannons added to the firepower quickly decimating the Elves.  
>Even that did not seem enough, but there were still 80 soldiers which added their G36 assault rifles to the slaughter and that was what finally broke the back of the assault. The Dark Elves tried to get back to their lines, just to learn that they took even more losses in the retreat than in the assault.<br>Only then did Paul find the time to look after the mages given to his care. He found them in a bad way. Bad Migraine headache seemed to be the least of the problems, two were down unconscious and the blasted head of a Light Order Wizard showed that they had fought a battle at least as dangerous as the one he had with the Dark Elves more conventional troops.

"**Papenburg" Helicopter Deck**

The Pilot of the CH53 Helicopter did not switch off the engines when he put his Helicopter down on the landing deck which was where the old swimming pool used to be when "Papenburg" was still a cruise ship in order to take off quickly again.  
>Standing under 2 Turbines with several thousand horsepower and a slowly spinning rotor caused quite a lot of sound and heat to wash over the medics which waited for the rescued slaves to disembark.<br>The Paratrooper Lt. who held the "Paddles" for guiding the Helicopter had to shout to get heard. "War is hell, but the soundtrack is great"  
>Shaking their heads the Medics went into the bay and helped the slaves to get off. The experiences with the galley slaves rescued after the battle of Papenburg had shown that they would be unable to help themselves for quite a while, especially when confronted with such an alien high-tech surroundings as the German ships. This had made the planners for this raid assign a humungous number of medics and nurses to the ships, which in turn made it necessary to conscript quite a few of them.<br>While everybody thought saving the slaves was a worthwhile endeavor in and by itself it was also a way to kick the Dark Elves even more as their economy depended largely on them.  
>For the German government the biggest plus they could not talk about was that they could use this rescue as justification for this raid. If not for that just smashing some bits of infrastructure and killing some Elves would have played badly with some segments of the German population. But how could anybody be against saving slaves?<br>Be that as it may the nurses and medics certainly had their work cut out for them. They could not simply put most of the work to shore side hospitals as the trip back would take more than 2 weeks.  
>Many of them were not really happy to be here as they had been conscripted when it became obvious that a call for volunteers would not bring the necessary numbers forward.<br>When the receiving team saw the state of the slaves which the Helos brought this vanished quickly. Anything which helped these poor souls was good; anything which punished those who were responsible for this state was justifiable.  
>For Germans who`s normal state of affairs is often "this may be good, but…"this was an unusual state of affairs but a good one.<br>The proud feeling of being part of something hugely worthwhile helped the crews of the Troop ships immensely-a good thing as their work for the next weeks was hard indeed.

**Mountaintop overlooking Hag Graef**

Morathi tried to identify the feeling which filled her head when she looked at the burning mess that was Hag Graef. It was not hate or fear-these she could identify easily. It was at least part anger-at the Demon for giving incomplete advice, at the Germans for wrecking such havoc, at Malus Darkblade for being incompetent to prevent it-but that was only part of it.  
>At the end she found it to be surprise. It is very hard for someone who has lived several thousand years to see anything new and here it was. Normally she would have been happy that there was still something to surprise her, but this was unfortunately not amusing at all.<br>She had expected the Germans to take weeks or months to do any appreciable damage to Hag Graef, which was a pretty substantial fortress, and here they had laid waste to large parts of the city in mere hours. This meant she had to do something fast without either consulting the local ruler or gathering lots of intelligence.

It did not take her very long to decide whether she wanted to engage at all-this promised to be too much excitement to miss. Question was what to do and where. She relaxed outwardly and tuned herself to the winds of magic in order to find where the action was. There were two centers, one close to the causeway to the city and one at the slave pens.  
>The ships she could see quite clearly were practically dead to magic, quite strange for something which did so much damage in such a short time.<br>The longer she "looked" the clearer the purpose of the Germans became: It had to be a slave raid. Now that was disappointingly boring-she was interested in the new methods the Germans employed, but the raid itself was hardly new.  
>It seemed that the forces in the slave pens were actually not getting much attention, so she decided that this was the point to apply her "help".<br>Diverting two of her handmaidens towards the fleet she took a roundabout route to the slave pens. She had been there many times so she knew more ways in than the official ones. This would be the point to foil the German designs.

**Hellhole **

Ulf Grimnison was currently going in and out of consciousness so he was not aware when the shouting started. First there seemed to be shouting and fighting in the cells next to his hole, then his chaingang cried something and the next thing he knew was that a strange human face looked at him from the drop hole that lead into his "cell"  
>He had a hard time understanding what the human tried to tell them, he spoke Reikspiel with a strange accent, but it seemed to be a variation of "stay calm, there will be help". Wondering what might have conjured such a bad dream he again drifted away just to be woken up by his comrades who for whatever reason tried to keep him conscious. He also could not figure out where they had gotten the bottle they used to get some fluid into his mouth.<br>He could not place the taste of it either until he remembered that this might be the taste of clean water, something he did not have for many years. Presently it tasted better than any Bugman he ever tried. He was still trying to decide whether this was real or delusion when things went really strange.

**Shirasagi Fields, Nanseitochi, "Nippon"**

Hideki Toda, Daimyo of the now westernmost portion of all Nippon, cradled his helmet under one arm, observing the retreat of the Bretons. But his mind was somewhere else, not really the victorious battle. Not even the fact that it was the fastest victory in centuries, kept his attention.  
>No, his thoughts circled about his allies under the Black-Red-Gold and the Skull-Cross banners.<p>

Mostly those under Black-Red-Gold. Their weapons and machines were things never seen before or only crude versions of local production. As a Daimyo, he had been informed much more solidly about their new neighbours than the normal Nipponese. And he couldn´t help but wonder.  
>According to the Germans, they had been friends with both the otherworld version of Nippon and Bretonnia. In fact, due to circumstances closer ties to Bretonnia 2 than Nippon 2.<br>Hideki had many solid reasons to be proud, but he was not blinded by it. Germany would gain far more if they would have sided with the Bretons in this conflict. Bretonnia was a Great Power in this part of the world, his and the other stranded Daimyos piece of Nippon rather small.  
>While it had taken this battle to drive it really home for him how powerful their weapons were, Hideki had no doubt, that he, his men and women would never have stopped a German advance, had that been their goal from the start.<br>Even without the Bretons come knocking, had the Germans wanted to take over, nobody in the nipponese splinter could have stopped them.  
>It would have been the logical solution for Germany to do exactly that. But here he stood, having lead a battle not from his trusted Warhorse "Ryoki", no, from the "back" of a german Panzer. The Doitsu were friends, that was definitely sure after all that happened in the last year.<p>

Hideki Toda thought back to the fateful day, which brought them here, around 10 months later. A delegation from Kagoshima, himself being a part of, with some german observers among them, met the bretonnian leadership at the Reik beach. The bretonnian _Tenno_ was actually a likeable fellow, a warrior for his nation. He had understood that the situation had been changed by the Winds of Magic in ways no one could have forseen. While not totally pleased, King Lionceur had been prepared to accept the compromise the Germans had championed: The Eastern side of the new Reik for Germany, the Empire and Nippon, the western side up to the border with the Empire and the rest of the Wasteland to Bretonnia. The Germans had hinted at development help for Bretonnia if they accepted something both sides could live with and it wasted no blood on both sides.  
>Then all broke down with the things the other Breton leaders wanted. Fueled by dislike and the visions of some Grail Knights, their demands were beyond reason. It was at this point where Daimyo Isamo made his mistake. Unused to the belittling speeches of the smug Breton Grail Knights, being treated like the lowly serfs of Bretonnia made his reaction sharp in sting.<p>

The negotiation ended soon after. War was declared. The Germans promised aid, but the Daimyo assembly, including himself, told them _not in the beginning. This is a question of honour. We may have not the possibilities or numbers of the Breton army, but for now, we must take them on. We might need your aid later, but we cannot do so from the start. Those haughty want-to-bes insulted both of us. You were guests, so it is the task of us Nipponese to eredicate the slights on Germany and Nippon._

Months of advance and retreat followed, but to save needed lifes, after the first three months of what would become called "War for the Reik", the Samurai Rikugun began to integrate more and more materials and weapons given by the Germans.  
>But it took time to get used to the new tech and to finally bring the Grail Knight Crusade to meet them in open, full battle. Finally accomplished, Daimyo Toda was amazed how fast the battle was over. It was a serious blow to the forces of Bretonnia, but it sealed the enmity between the nations involved. Neither Hideki Toda nor the german observers believed that Bretonnia would come around soon, more that the Bretons would become a splinter in their sides. But that were thoughts for later. A victory had to be celebrated and Hideki after letting the revue pass before his mind´s eye, decided to champion closer cooperation with the Germans.<p>

**Gate to Slave Pens  
><strong>  
>Ralf Winkler had always been a volunteer medic-doing what he understood as his duty besides what job he might have at the time. Nobody ever doubted that he possessed all the knowledge that a medic should have and he also had enough experience. Still he needed to think about things that would come as second nature to his even more experienced comrades which made him a little slower.<br>Tonight was different. His hands seemed to move by themselves, his fingers finding pulse and joints with alarming speed. He did not even fumble once when taking something from the deep recesses of the backpacks and put in the needle for a drip feed with a speed which made the doctor who led his team nod approvingly.  
>Everybody was far too busy to see that his nose bled at intervals and it was too dark to see that the air behind him sometimes seemed to ripple like in a heat wave. He also never felt the amulet he had "liberated" warm against his chest, but it still was warmer than it should have been just from body heat.<p>

At first the wireless operator annoyed him when he tried to get his attention "Hey Winkler-that means you too. Do you have any experience with attitude rescue?"  
>"Yes I had that course and…"<br>"Fine with me, go to Müller over there, assemble what you need and then report to the Sergeant over there. Seems like the Spitzohren dropped some slaves into holes to die and you have to pull them out again.  
>Wondering if a course he took in 1991 and some refreshers would really count he helped to collect one of the ubiquitous backpacks, a normal and a shovel stretcher, a vacuum matrass and a couple of rescue ropes. The latter were 7 meter ropes with a diameter of slightly over 1 cm and a rated load of a ton.<br>A squad of Paratroopers helped them to carry some of the equipment deep into the slave pens.

**Sachsen  
><strong>  
>The airspace above Sachsen was a busy one. Helicopters, artillery shells and "Biologicals" all cried for attention. Also only the German helicopters had transponders which made their affiliation clear. When the two handmaidens approached the ship they remained undetected for several reasons-they kept their Pegasi very close to the water, did not have a big RCS and were flying comparatively slow. The latter made the radar reject them as a target.<br>When close enough they initiated the same spell which had hit the Troops at the Causeway-a severe winter storm. The simplest spell in the Dark Elf arsenal could be used with tremendous force by the handmaidens who were high-level mages.  
>To their surprise "Sachsen" was not tossed about like they expected and even kept speed and course as before. That the ship ceased firing counted for something but obviously more was needed.<p>

Inside Sachsen Fräulein Meikle was rather unhappy. The added movement of the ship increased her motion sickness and her beloved indicator would not agree to any bearing but was slowly wandering around the compass.  
>Only when the operator on "Hessen" got a firm bearing which was just changing slowly it dawned to everybody that the target might be quite close to "Sachsen" and actually circling her.<br>A look by the infrared detectors at the same bearing than her indicator have two targets which circled Sachsen. A year ago a target description of "One Pegasus with a Woman rider" might have caused problems for the Operator. It was a sign of how much things had already changed that they got the Indicators "Indianer 1" and "Indianer 2" at once and the order to take them down was quickly given.

Sachsen quickly found that it was quite difficult to fire their 27 mm autocannons in this kind of spell, so the order was given to "Hessen".  
>The reasons the German weapons were so superior to all the Warhammer World so far had shown was, besides a well-developed industry and systematic science, the long weapons race that had happened on Earth ever since the 19th century.<br>While most of the times this was great for Germany, sometimes there were problems. One of the Problems was the RAM missile system that was mounted on many German ships. Designed to stop low flying cruise missiles the seeker head of the missile had two modes: Homing on electronic emissions and infrared. As there were no cruise missiles present and any possible target had no infrared signature that would register in the missile the weapons system was deemed useless as is.  
>Fortunately the engineers as BGT found a solution: A software tweak to the seeker head allowed the infrared seeker to look for a laser spot. The upgrade was not so hard to implement, and therefore a weapons operator on Hessen laid his laser illuminator on one of the targets. Waiting until it had cleared the stern of "Sachsen" he fired a missile.<br>While the weapon wobbled somewhat in the turbulences around "Sachsen" it still managed to close sufficiently with the Handmaiden that the proximity fuse found enough signal. The explosion pushed the remains of Maiden and Pegasus under the waves.  
>The second maiden was still searching for what happened to her sister when a short burst from Köllns 76 mm gun found her. About 30 meters in front of her a shell detonated, releasing dozens of Tungsten darts. The kinetic energy of the darts which hit her would have been enough for a couple of elephants-she died quickly enough.<p>

**Salzenmünd** **Harbour, Nordland, the Empire**

Adelheid Schild, Harbour master of Salzenmünd, closed the window of her office with a grimace. There was too much unusual noise out there, teasing her attention. The roar of pneumatic hammers and planier equipment, the hiss of blowtorches, ...  
>She had already spent at least an hour observing the german work crews turning "her" main harbour into a single big construction site. Presuming from the mass of heads bundled at the harbour entrance, it seemed half of the city was there looking.<br>Salzenmünd was not only one of the most important trade ports in the Empire, it was also the main anchorage of the Imperial Fleet. As such, the city was one of the first parts of the Empire chosen for an upgrade by the now available technology from Germany. The main harbour, as well as the additional harbours in the suburbs, made the city the center of shipbuilding in Karl Franz´s realm.  
>Meister Hellbrecht, the builder in charge of the city and port fortifications, had returned with starry eyes from his visit at Germany´s main Naval Base in Wilhelmshaven. While it was not the concentrated, fortified base of old, the mixture of trade port and naval base had given him ideas. Not that Adelheid minded, her brain sometimes felt like mush when she thought back to her visit of Hamburg and it´s port, the differences in size and all simply too much to stomach easily. But she was determined to make Salzenmünd an, if smaller, relative to those two cities.<p>

Outside german and imperial workers were busy. New walls were erected, old moles were rebuild in stone and concrete, the list was endless. In the outer harbour massive digging was going on, preparing a zone for bigger German ships.  
>The Imperials were learning new techniques, in essence even the Guild Masters were apprentices again. But it was a two way learning. Germany, incapable of finding everything needed in this new world, relearned old, but proven ways. Additionally helping was the happy fact, that Imperial concrete was even better than Earth concrete. Which, beside magic, was the now found solution how some buildings like Castle Wittgenstein or the main towers of the Order of the Heavens could have been erected with local tech.<p>

**Gate to Slave Pens**

Ilthies was at the command post of the Paratrooper company which held the entrance to the slave pens. He had nothing to do presently as nobody was trying to attack this position magically.  
>This gave him time to reflect on what he was doing here and the results put him ill at ease.<br>When he had seen his vision of a grand undertaking he had seen that it would involve the Druchii and the High Elves as well as the Germans. It had also shown him that he would play an important part in this and that it would be important for the High Elves-but what his vision had not shown.

Now he was not sure about anything. In most battles he had been in he had played a central role – here he did not even really understand how the battle was waged.  
>To bide his time he watched the wretched slaves which were led out of the underground pens by the Germans. Mostly humans with an occasional group of dwarves. There had been very few High Elves in the group and he had send Aeolus to make sure they were treated well by the Germans. But even there he felt helpless as neither he nor Aeolus could understand what the Germans were doing for help. Whatever it was it seemed to help or at least not to cause damage.<p>

The rescue of these sad collection of beings could not be the reason for him being here couldn`t it? He then saw a group of strange Germans which seemed to watch the slaves emerging from the Gate. One of them held a strange device on his shoulder and a woman was standing in front of him and talking.  
>He was curious enough to enquire about them with the German soldier who was accompanying him. "That is Helga Meier of the NDR" The look Ilthies gave the soldier easily crossed the species barrier and so the soldier explained "She is a television reporter. Her team makes the running pictures that will be seen in Germany soon. She made a TV documentary last year that was partly responsible for us being here."<p>

"Ah, thank you."

Ilthies was understanding only partly, but did not want to appear too uninformed for further questions. What he did not understand was why he suddenly had a feeling of foreboding and was pretty sure that this woman was a part of the undertaking he had seen.  
>He sat down in order to relax enough so he could again check the winds of magic for anything useful. What he saw there took his breath away, in fact enough that he missed the start of the screaming. <p>


	12. Chapter 12

**Hellhole**

Ralf Winkler was arranging his equipment when he became aware of a commotion behind him. The burly machine gunner, known somewhat incongruously as "Princess" approached him, having several dwarves in tow. These guys refuse to leave until we rescued their comrades in that hole-and they want to help. Do you have any idea for them before the cause more of a ruckus?  
>The medic had a long look at the assembled dwarves. Despite their obvious malnutrition they were powerfully muscled and their body language spoke of a spirit less broken than that of most human slaves he had seen so far. The legendary resilience of dwarves against poison might have something to do with that.<br>"Ok, why not. If you put somebody in charge with them they can man some of the rescue lines and help carry the stretchers."  
>"If you think it`s ok, then we`ll do it. That way we can make this place a little more secure."<p>

Ralf then took a rescue line and showed it to his fellow medic. Ok Thorsten, no big deal about this. Take about that much rope, like me. Now put the short end behind your neck, cross the line behind you back-yes looks good-and now make a Manrope knot in front-see, done.  
>"I go down first, than you can have a look again how I did it." Making sure that the rope was led over a tarp to prevent fraying and that the 3 soldiers which let him down had grabbed the ropes right he stepped backward into the hole.<br>His Coat prevented the ropes from cutting him too badly and he was lowered into the hole at a good speed. Arriving at the bottom he undid the knot and took a quick scan of his surroundings. There were 6 dwarves in there, all injured to some extent, but two were in a bad way.

He went to the dwarf in the middle of the group who seemed to be the worst off. "Hello guy. I am Ralf and I want to help you. What hurts worst?" He got no real answer from the dwarf but one of his friends answered in somewhat understandable Reikspiel: "Ulf is in a bad way, sir. He broke his legs when they threw him in and yesterday he started to get this fever"

"Ok, thanks for the info. Let me check him please."  
>The semi-conscious dwarf did not stop him when he checked for pulse, skin tone and temperature and patted down the dwarf for injuries. While he was not so familiar with their physiology-most joints felt like having arthritis in a human but seemed mobile enough-his check seemed to confirm the dwarfs intel. A quick pinch into a toe and Ulf`s wince confirmed that the spine was still in one piece. By then his co-medic had also reached the bottom and had sorted the equipment which had been lowered after them.<br>"I would say we give him a drip-feed, put him into the vacuum matrass and give him priority-what do you think?"  
>"Seems about right, let`s do it."<br>The two medics could not fix the neck with a brace as would be normal as there was no brace in their arsenal which could have coped with the short, broad neck presented to them. They adjusted the length of the shovel stretcher and parted it lengthwise. Next they arranged the vacuum matrass on the normal stretcher and then pushed the two halves of the shovel stretcher under their patient without moving him much until the two halves met. After that the swearing started-even in his state the dwarf weighted 100 kg easily and so they had to work hard to lift him without any sudden movements until they could rest the stretcher again on the vacuum matrass.

Parting the shovel stretcher they could pull it out under Ulf and Ralf pulled both long ends of the vacuum matrass while Torsten used a small pump to evacuate the air from the matrass. Being quite pliable when they had lowered the dwarf inside and taking his form it now became quite hard and inflexible. This would stabilize the broken limbs during transport and still dampen vibration and similar.  
>While Ralf put a drip feed into a vein on the back side of the dwarves hand Torsten started fixing a rope around the stretcher and the dwarf starting at the feet. Building up several rounds of the rope around the stretcher and their patient he fixed the dwarf well enough that they could have put the stretcher the wrong way down and their patient would still remain where he was.<br>Torsten was good at this and had to deny any private interest in bondage whenever they practiced this on the trip.. Too bad, one of the nurses seemed to be interested…

All of this had taken about 5 Minutes and then they could call for the team on top to pull the stretcher in. They guided their patient as long as their arms could reach and then took a new stretcher for the next patient.

"**Amusement suite" inside the slave pens**

The inside of this currently empty suite was an amazing mixture of a lounge, a sybarite's bedroom and a torture chamber. It´s entrance into the slave pens was well hidden, as those who used this room wanted some discretion.  
>While Druchii society was willing to overlook practically everything which was done to slaves and others not of their race there were things which even the Dark Elves thought better to keep quietly, either because their cravings would seem too gauche or because they would indicate alliances better not shown to the greater populace.<br>These rooms were made to cater to the needs of the Druchii with such interests.

The instruments in the torture chamber part of the suite was filled with instruments of exquisite workmanship. They had about as much in common with the crude instruments of torture used by humans as an Orks cudgel with a finely crafted Elven sword. Works of art, darkly beautiful, elegant and showing their purpose in ways that would make a human cringe with empathy.

Lady Morith had entered the room via a small side entrance which did not connect with the corridor that was under control of the German troops. She looked at the "furniture" of the room approvingly, using the sight to pull forward memories of deeds done in these rooms for which humans did not even have names even if they were done to them.  
>She took the memories and the feelings they evoked to connect herself to the warp and ultimately to her master. An observer would have seen her cringe and sway under emotions caused by things he could not see, but were obviously felt my the Dark Elf.<br>Finally her eyes showed their pupils again and she breathed more regularly. She used what she had been given and pushed against the fabric of reality itself. Under this pressure in several places close by the air seemed to rip and ovals of something appeared. Out of them jumped strange hybrids between a beautiful woman and an emperor crab. Slanesh had seemed fit to grant her several covens of Demonettes. Most went after whatever targets they could sense while some arranged them around Lady Morith like a bodyguard.  
>Having composed herself she broke in a run-whatever happened now, it would surely not be boring.<p>

**Causeway**  
>Paul Müller just hoped that whatever had caused the successful magic attack some time ago was now out of the picture. He had his medics check on the mages he was to protect before speaking to them himself and some where in a bad way-while others were out cold.<br>That was not even considering the poor soul that had so obviously died. "Herr Flammbach-what happened?"  
>The wheezing voice that answered him showed how much the fight had taken out of the mage.<br>"We got hit by a very basic spell backed up by terrible force. It must have been the best Mages Hag Graef has, and they probably sacrificed one of their number to push it through-it felt like that. But if I am wrong, don`t worry too much, if the best mages have not yet joined the fight we are dead, so need to concern yourself. Is it possible that you hit the mages somehow-I felt them go very suddenly!".  
>"From what my superiors tell me we wiped some mages at approximately the spot where the magic was coming from."<p>

"That would be good if true. We will do our best to avoid a repeat-sorry for what happened." "Forget it-we are grateful to have you along. Sorry, I have to go!"  
>He was waived over by his Lt. who pointed out a new strange assault on the causeway. Paul was amazed to see that the front rows of whatever was coming this way seemed to carry torches.<br>"Tell me what you see, Müller"  
>Focusing his Binox on the front ranks he had to look twice before his brain accepted the sight. The front ranks were composed of Humans, many of them women and children, of Dwarves and what seemed to be some High Elves. Most of them wore collars and Chains but were not chained together.<br>They were coming forward slowly and were obviously herded forward by closely following Druchii with spears. While not fast they would reach their position in about 5 Minutes.  
>"Front rank is slaves, Sir. The assholes use human shields" "Scheiße, that is the same than I saw. OK, I kick this upstairs, you brief the men. This is going to be real hard."<p>

**Slave Pens, Mouth of connecting tunnel **  
>Ulrich Stoiber watched the progression of the Dark Elf soldiers through his infrared sight. "Persistent buggers that lot" This was the 3rd try of the Dark Elves to gain entry to the Slave Pens via the Tunnel he guarded. This time they did not show any lights or carried large heavy shields. Instead they tried to approach without showing any bright metal and had probably darkened their faces.<br>Well, they were still radiating in the infrared spectrum and for that they would pay. Waiting until the Spitzohren had closed to 300 meters he triggered the Coax. Keeping the fire to 1-2 second bursts to keep barrel temperature down still hundreds of rounds went downrange. Bunched up like the Dark Elves had to be in the tunnel most of them hit something right away. Even the bullets which managed to miss usually hit a wall at a shallow angle and then bounced back into the mass of soldiers deformed into shapes their designers did not dream of. They ripped wounds which would have impressed even the Dark Elves if they would not have been so busy dying.  
>He would have loved to keep firing into the retreating survivors, but was aware that he had to conserve ammo. When he was sufficiently sure that the "Spitzohren" were gone he twisted backwards from his coupola in order to change the ammo box for the Coax. This is why he was the first to see the new threat.<br>In the tunnel he saw a group of slaves being led to the exit by a squad of 4 Paratroopers. Suddenly from the door of a cell Ulrich was sure to be cleared of enemy and fried alike emerged a sight he could not place right away. They seemed to be women of strange statue and gait attacking the group of Germans and Slaves from the flank.  
>He dropped back down into his seat and twisted the turret around so that he could use his optics and weapons. Giving the order to the second Wiesel to keep watching the Tunnel he called his driver to drive backwards slowly.<br>When he had the fight in focus of his sight he froze. About a dozen of these beings were tearing up the group-literally. Some of them seemed to have crab-like pincers which they used to pinch off limbs and heads while other used whips to deadly effect. The sight was made worse by the fact that the victims did not seem to fight back. Only one soldier managed to fire his assault rifle and downed one of the attackers, but was overwhelmed and torn apart quickly.  
>Demonettes-that was what these beings were. He remembered his briefings and with this insight he started to get rid of the strange Paralysis the view of these Demonetts has caused him. When they had liked their last victim he was ready. He triggered his Coax first which killed 2 of them but seemed only to anger the others. The ammo for the machine gun quit quickly as he had been unable to reload earlier so he switched to the autocannon.<br>Unbelievingly the demonettes attacked him, obviously angered by his machine gun fire. The autocannon made short work of that. It was the same type autocannon which had brought down Dragons without too much fuss-here it was bloody overkill. Not that Ulrich minded at all.

**Hellhole**

Ralf Winker emerged from the Hellhole last, having made sure that all injured and all material had left the hole. His Co-medic had already arranged for stretcher parties from the not injured dwarves and some Paratroopers. Besides the stretchers they had taken with them they were using the remains of a bench to carry those who no longer could walk by themselves.  
>He was about to pick up his backpack and for that shifted his rifle to his front when the air itself seemed to rip apart with a strange sound. He was still trying to make sense of what he saw when several demonettes emerged from the rift. They should have looked simply bizarre with their androgynous figure and the Crab pincers which often replaced a hand, not to speak of scorpion like tail. But they held his mind in a way he could not explain. It was like his brain was caught in an endless loop which tried to figure our weather to fight, flee, experience lust or be disgusted, keeping him from any sensible act.<br>He was not the only one who was effected in such a way, most Dwarves and the Paratroopers were paralyzed as well, taking no effective action against their strange attackers.  
>Ralf watched helplessly when one of the demonettes eviscerated one of the paratroopers and another seemed to close her pincer about the arm of a dwarf in slow motion. It was the Demonette which applied her whip to the Dwarf they had gotten out of the hole first who saved them.<br>The thought "Nobody attacks my patients" cut through the Chaos in his mind like a blowtorch. His breast seemed to burn at the point where it touched his amulet.

He brought up his rifle in what seemed to be slow motion, fumbling the fire selection switch downwards and pulling the collapsible stock out. One of the attackers seemed to realize this and started to move in his direction.  
>She was less than two meters away when he fired a short burst directly into her chest and head. The head came apart like being stuffed with explosives, splattering him and his surroundings with whatever matter which made up his attackers.<br>When he had described his G3K as "quite a handful" he had not been joking. The rifle was a short barrel version of the venerable G3 rifle and firing the powerful 7.62 round in a short barrel in a closed room makes quite a commotion.  
>The shock of this and the consternation of the demonettes galvanized the rest of the Germans into action. While the medic started shooting at the next target the machine gunner of the troop started to scream like a madman and fired his MG3 from the hip into the still open portal. While nobody ever knew what he had hit a stream of something which might be blood in another world leaked from the portal which closed quickly. A second burst at close distance ripped another pair of Demonettes apart at their middle.<p>

The other surviving Germans also joined the fray. Arcane weapons against assault rifles at hand to hand range made for a bloody battle which could have made Khorne happy.  
>Ralf Winkler acquired a new target which was quite too close and pulled the trigger. The click of the bolt of the empty chamber was louder to him than all the other sounds of the attle and he was rather sure that this was it, at least for him.<br>To his astonishment the Demonette all of a sudden stopped before her pincer could reach him and dropped inelegantly to the ground. The Dwarves had found their spirit enough to join the fight and mostly used what chains they still wore to good effect.  
>Smashing them on limbs and heads with all the force an angry dwarf could muster caused nasty injuries and as soon as the demonettes hit the ground they were riffed apart. While he still fumbled a new magazine into his rifle Ralf incredulously saw how a dwarf ripped up the tail of a demonette and then used his huge fist in a way which had to hurt even a creature of Slanesh. Blowing her head off seemed like a mercy killing.<br>And then it was over, with the demonettes either dead or vanishing like they never were. Shaking their heads against the ringing sound the Germans organized the party again. Several of the dwarves appropriated Hammers and other tools as weapons and went in front of the rifle toting Germans and the injured. Ralf had a look at them and felt sure nothing would come at him if not right through the dwarves-and equally sure that his rifle could take care of anything moving in here. Jesus, this thing had a punch.  
>Rubbing his shoulder he joined the march back to the gates.<p>

**Swedish Foreign Ministry, Stockholm, Sweden**

Carl Bildt, foreign minister of Sweden, read the fax in his hand twice, then let his gaze wander to a staple of memos already worked through. He was unable to believe the diplomatic crisis brewing over Sweden.  
>Stockholm had been very relieved when the problem with the chinese, oh, cathayian city of Shenlong and her attempt to conquer Falkenberg was solved without a single shot fired. Nobody could have assumed that the problems were just beginning. Considering the strong similarities to an old chinese city, China pressured Sweden for some time now to hand over control of the city to Peking. It was clear, that China tried to use the problematic world situation to win more influence.<br>The situation became more tense when the Cathyians declared to consider China traitors against the Emperor and the heavenly order. Shenlong would resist any attempt of China to take control of the city and would charge any person of the so called People´s Republic setting just one foot into Shenlong with High Treason. If they, the Chinese really are their otherworldly brothers and sisters, then so reasoned the Cathayian, China was part of the heavenly mandate. And what China had done was a clear breach of the mandate, their crime obvious for all to see.

That the chinese leadership was not pleased with this stance, was an understatement. That China was really contemplating to send a task force to Sweden was the beginning of a crisis no one in Sweden wanted. But the mayor of Shenlong had officially asked Stockholm for asylum for the whole city. Even if the situation would be different, Sweden simply could not let herself be pressured over things in her borders, it would open the door to other blackmailing attempts. How on Earth could this crisis be solved?

**Seeadler**

Admiral Lerbs was trying his best to keep his dismay off his face and his voice. whe Wireless calls by the Paratroopers showed the same thing as the helicopter drone which watched the causeway: The never-to-be-sufficiently damned Spitzohren used a lot of the slaves which were kept in the city as human shields.  
>Fortunately this situation had been anticipated in Berlin and orders had been cut to cover this situation. It did not make going along with them easier.<br>He watched again the big screen which showed the situation at the causeway. It was sure that the last of the slaves was away from the city side sufficiently.  
>"Gentlemen, this situation is not going to be any better by waiting. Open fire as per plan!"<p>

**Sachsen **

The crews inside the gun turret had the advantage that they did not know what target they were shooting at-all they shot at were sets of coordinates which were transmitted directly from the bridge.  
>For maximum effect the crew shot a fast series where the first shell was lobbed at a high, slow trajectory with each following shot at a lower trajectory with a stronger propellant charge. All shells would arrive at the same time at their target, their overlapping shock waves and fragments doing maximum damage. "Hessen" did the same thing at the same target, whereas "Hamburg" was firing laser guided shells.<p>

After the first salvo the guns went to maximum rate of fire, pumping 10 rounds per minute into a very small target area. Whatever was there would at least die quickly.

**Hag Graef City, close to Causeway to the harbour**

Malus Darkblade watched the advance of his troops with elation-finally something was working right. When he saw that the Germans took away the slaves he had concluded correctly that they did not want to use them for themselves but for whatever reason had a soft spot for them.  
>He already hated the Germans guts for what they had done to his city and his power base. He had to win some sort of victory, otherwise his hold on government would be threatened. And his new tactic seemed to work. Surely, many Druchii had protested as they did not want to waste their property and so promises of recompense had to be made, but so what.<br>If he could capture even a few of the weapons the Germans at the Quay used so efficiently on his troops he would still be stronger after this than before, even with all the damage done and slaves lost.

He was totally surprised when his body, seemingly by his on violation, turned and started to run past the next building. He just started to get angry when he heard Tz'arkan, the demon he unwillingly shared his body with "Run Fool, we…."  
>8 155mm Shells arrived practically simultaneously, making all explanations moot. From then roughly 1 shell impacted on the causeway and it`s cityside terminus every 2 seconds, with the explosions closer to the beings on the causeway markedly smaller.<p>

While the Druchii just behind the slaves were mostly unharmed there would be no reinforcements as long as the barrage continued.

**The Hague, Netherlands, Earth**

"So, Mr. VanderSchanz, you and your companions believe it to be possible to reach out to your Homeworld with magic?"

"Yes, we do. We are the most innovative School of Magic in Marienburg, beyond and in the Old Wo- this world definitely. This is simply a-"

"Grandmaster Wim, you mean we can rectify this mess?"

"No, unfortunately. President Hollande, Prime Minister Rutte, Chancellor Faymann, Prime Minister Di Rupo, the Winds of Magic blow weakly here. They are still usable if you know what you do, but any kind of solution can only be made from Home. And I have to say I am not sure, such an undertaking would be successful. Never in recorded history had there been a magical storm of that magnitude. The Tower of Hoeth in Ulthuan has the oldest and most powerful mages of Elvenkind, some of them several thousand years old, but even they are seemingly incapable of _rewinding_ the situation. Because if they could, they would already have done so to rebalance creation.  
>What can be acomplished, not today or tomorrow, but in a reasonable timespan is to communicate with Home, say 3 hours. We might even be able to, if wizards over there work with us, to send something or someone between worlds, but it will not be permanent. Maybe an hour or so and any kind of action will be reseted after the ritual ends.<br>And you all should think carefully about what you want to speak about, since with Earth´s weak connection to the Winds, we will be able to this around once a century. From Home or Warhammer, as you call our birth planet, they might be able to initiate it a bit more often, maybe once a generation."

The words of the Master Wizard of Marienburg stunned the political leaders of France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. This was not what they hoped for, but better than feared. Even now, more than a year after the Event, not all regions of Earth had been accounted for. The changes had been too vast. But maybe the Lost Ones of Earth still lived on Warhammer. This had to be tried, just to bring some kind of peace for relatives and friends of those who had vanished that fateful day.

**Hag Graef**, **Quay **  
>The automatic grenade launcher sounded like a starting motorcycle when it fired it`s shells toward the oncoming column. Paul Müller winced when he saw that and promptly started to run forward. He was immediately having problems drawing breath through his mask but had to bear it as now dozens of 40 mm shells discharged CS aerosol over the Slaves and their Dark Elf slavemasters.<p>

Without the protection of this mask he would have experienced the same as them: tears in the eyes, nasal discharge, coughing, restricted breathing and sight: What every experienced demonstrator knows when the police is fed up with them. Here it was amplified by two things: a frightful concentration and the fact that it was completely unknown.  
>Pushing his way through the helpless slaves he started to fire on the equally helpless Spitzohren as soon as he had an unobstructed line of sight.<p>

Having connected 3 magazines together he was able to discharge the first and second magazine in controlled bursts. This would have been wasteful normally, but from a range of less than 3 meters in some cases, against an enemy that stood shoulder to shoulder, the effect was brutal.  
>By the time he was at the 3rd mag there were so few targets left that he reverted to single shots, killing the enemy one by one as quickly as he could pull the trigger.<br>Behind him another platoon pulled, pushed, kicked and carried the slaves forward to the German lines.  
>Paul Müller did not know it yes, but the Paratroopers had indeed fulfilled their mission: less than 10 Slaves died and no Spitzohr came closer to the German lines than 150 meters. Walking backwards to the German lines he still poured fire into his helpless foes as he went.<br>During the planning for this Operation this situation in one way or another had been anticipated and the Paratroopers had trained for this several times. It had never run as smoothly as now.  
>By now the causeway was covered with Druchi, or bits of Druchi, enough that these was practically no road to be seen anymore. Paul considered it job well done when he was back to the German lines. He would start to worry about this a few days later, which was a good thing.<p>

**Slave Pens **

The attack of the demonettes had been a bad surprise for the Germans who had considered the slave pens cleared of the enemy. Several squads who had been too busy moving the slaves out of the pens and not busy enough with keeping contact were massacred right away. What saved the Paratroopers was that the thoroughfare was under German control right from the start so that the victorious groups could not meet up with the groups less lucky.

Given a little respite the Paratroopers coalesced into useful combat formations around their officers and noncoms. The Wireless traffic was quite excited for a while until the situation became more clear.  
>It still took some more minutes until the Germans started to move groups about which actively hunted the demonettes while others protected the slave, or in the areas already cleared started to move the slaves outside again.<br>An additional platoon from the Gate reinforced this hunt and quite soon the demonettes learned a few new lessons. Like that the small balls the German soldiers tended to throw into rooms did indeed explode very nastily and that they were not immune to these explosions. Or that soldiers that are not suddenly confronted with them showed a far smaller tendency to "freeze" when they spotted them and that assault rifles made it nearly impossible to get into hand to hand range.

It did not take very long for the losses to mount up for the demonettes and then a strange thing happened.  
>When the old roman army decided that a unit had been cowardly the traditional punishment was a "decimatus"-every 10 man unit so sentenced had to cast lots and had to kill the looser using clubs. This punishment has stayed on in military language, and units which have losses exceeding 10% is considered decimated ad less efficient.<br>Losses exceeding 30% normally cripple a unit and it has to be pulled from combat and rebuild. The demonettes had lost more than that and were still a going concern-this was highly unusual, normally they would have vanished into the warp long before.  
>The reason for this aberration was approaching the gates to the slave pens.<p>

**Gate to Slave pens**

Ilthies was frustrated and bored. He had tried to get the attention of the German commander responsible for the drop-off point, but he seemed to be overwhelmed by handling the slaves evac and the assault by the demonettes in the slave pens.  
>He had approached a Lt. next who had taken note of his warning that an attack was imminent, but seemed powerless to order the retreat from this post which Ilthies though indefensible against the assault he had seen.<br>Before he could insist further he felt that now was the time and without further ado dropped into a lotus seat. He was not bothered by the Camera which was pointed in his direction or the sudden shooting from the perimeter of the drop-off point-he had seen this during the last minutes already in several variations.

It would be nearly boring to play through were it not for his opponent.  
>Ilthies more felt than saw the black beam that was somehow visible even against the night sky. It connected a barren patch of ground beyond the wrecked warehouses with a transport helicopter which had just taken off from the drop-off point. It hit the helicopter in the tail and destroyed the aft rotor.<br>The Ch53 immediately started to spin about it`s axis, completely out of control of it`s pilots. It crashed only a short way from the perimeter and the fire which quickly started illuminated the demonettes that assaulted the germans.  
>So far the paratroopers were able to handle the assault, but Ilthies knew that this would change soon if he did not interfere with the designs of Lady Morith. He knew it was her, haing seen her in several visions and knew he had no chance against her.<br>He was a powerful mage and only not known better than some of his contemporaries as he had spent more time teaching and learning at the Tower of Hoeth than trying to influence events more directly.  
>Still, his opponent was a near-immortal being who had a much more direct connection to the powers of the Winds than he ever would dare and a vast knowledge of arcane lore.<p>

He felt that his opponent readied a spell which would have everybody inside the German perimeter screaming in insane pain and lust, leaving them helpless before the demonettes.  
>Being outclassed did not keep him from trying to stop his opponent. Elves are very good at banishing hostile spells so he managed that without undue effort.<br>He localized his enemy quickly enough and casted his own spell which denied the winds of magic to her. The renewed magic attack which he countered just in time showed him the error of that.  
>Having to banish every spell which was flung his way made things immeasurably harder. Normally this should have been it quickly, but Ilthies had one more card to play. Him having spent so much time in the Tower of Hoeth might have denied him much fame and some experience, but provided him with access to the magic lore of millennia.<br>More than a hundred years before he had found a really ancient tome which had shown a way to wield much more power than normally possible. At first greatly enthused he had read on and both his reading and certain experiments showed him why this technique was best forgotten.  
>When he had finally grasped the problem itself, he had shuddered at the thought and had quietly shelved the tome again, making sure it would not be found anytime soon.<p>

Now the situation obviously called for desperate measures so he send his mind into the metal yoga position it needed to accept more and more power from the empyrean. He did so just in time as a new wave of magic waved over his position. Stopping it would have been impossible few minutes ago for him, now it was nearly easy.

**Council Chamber of the Order of the Heavens, Altdorf, the Empire, weeks earlier**

"Unacceptable! This is heresy, against the order of the universe, this-"

"Enough! How dare you?! You have seen the vision yourself too! I find this equally disgusting, but can you give us an alternative?"

"...No! But if we do this, can you imagine, Caspar, what it will do to our reputation?"

"For someone of such magical power you are far too hasty, my friend. This cannot be one of our wizards, this must be a German. Look at the clothes, his demeanor..."

"What?...but... that would be the solution! The Germans might be progressive enough to get this operation going. A lucky one, that guy, such magical talent is a gift!"

"Yes, but I pity him as well. The things he will have to learn, in addition to his normal Wind, not to speak of the things he will have to do, poor sod."

"That might be, but a gift is a gift. And a gift which might bring us a victory we would never get otherwise! The sacrifices he will have to make are for the wellbeing of the Empire and in extension that of Germany and our new almond-eyed friends."

"Right, but if that is such a consolation on a personal level, hm?"

"Still, the talent for magic is strong in him. That is gift from the gods. He is an option we never had before when facing Chaos. and more, if the vision comes to pass, magic will make a development jump I and I think we all want to be part of. Working with the Germans already helped us immensely. The Jade Order is convinced, this might bring us the societal breakthrough we want. Even if he fails."

"If he fails, times will get interesting. We might survive it, but I have my doubts with Norsca and Kislev. But that is the future. Before we can discuss our find, we need to make plans for the Storm of Chaos looming on the horizon. If we loose against that onslaught, we can forget about this german guy, because we will be all dead. By the way, does anyone know who the man is?"

"I think I know, not defnitely, but I have a feeling. It is one of those german "Experts on Warhammer" as they call our world. A friend of this Markus Ruhdorfer, I met during a visit in Germany. I remember then talking with someone who looks like the one in the vision."  
>"Good, Werner, see to it that you travel to Germany soon and find him. The entourage is yours to assemble as you like."<p>

**Tiger UHT, over the Battlefield**

The pilot of the Tiger helicopter was badly shaken still from having seen the shootdown of the Transport helo. The rage that somebody had shot down a helo evacuating slaves and injured troopers and the need for revenge battled against the need for caution. The latter was especially strong as he had no idea what had gotten the sturdy CH53, so defending against it would be doubly hard.  
>He was shook out of his reverie by new orders, they had detected a major use of magic close to the drop off point. He decided to have a look with his mast mounted sensors while hovering behind the ruins of some harbor buildings.<br>He could see the drop-off point-a real light show. Again and again something like black lightning seemed to strike at the comrades, just to be averted by an invisible dome. In addition to that the Paratroopers were pouring fire into enemies which assaulted their position.  
>His gunner checked the coordinates given by Seeadler in the infrared. " I only see a couple of ruins at that position, but nothing viable. We have to fly over the mole, from there we can check the back side of them."<br>The pilot was unhappy to leave cover, but still flew his helicopter to the new position, keep very close to the waters. Pulling up to give his gunner a view he was about to scold him for leaving them in an exposed position when he heard "Got something! There are two infrared contacts in the area, profile fits a humanoid and some riding animal. Lets take them out."

The pilot dropped closer to the waters again and flew laterally to their contact for a kilometer in order to come from a new direction in case he was detected. Pouring more than 2000 horsepower into the flight the Tiger accelerated like a scolded cat.  
>His gunner still found the time to shower the area with 8 70 mm missiles, causing the target area to erupt with smoke and flame.<br>The pilot was just debating whether to turn around and make sure or take a bigger detour when he heard an almighty "whang" and his beloved tiger lurched. The sudden drop in power and many red lights in his worry board told him the same story: He just lost an engine.  
>Deciding that his helo was too valuable to risk more and being nearly out of ammo he set course to the "Seeadler".<p>

**Close by**  
>Lady Morith was livid with rage. Inhapeth, the Pegasus which had accompanied her for millennia lay in front of her in a heap to steaming offal, being slain by the strange flying machine she had sensed too late. That her Pegasus had died while shielding her from the brunt of the German attack was little consolation for the unexpected end of such a long relationship. She was even more livid when she failed to bring down the attacker. On top of that the puny mage who had withstood her for far too long already had the gall to send spirits her way when her concentration had faltered momentarily during the German attack.<br>Now she was surrounded by a horde off luminescent wraiths who screamed at her, posed in front of her, tried to hurt her and touch her in even more intimate and offensive ways. None of this was doing her concentration any good.  
>She used her rage as a point of concentration and again drew deeply from the warp than she had done in thousands of years. She would show these mere mortals why they should fear her betters. The punishments she would inflict on the Germans would be legendary. <p>


	13. Chapter 13

**Drop off Point **  
>Ilthies was sad as he could see that he would not be able to do his duty as he saw it. The magical attacks on him were getting stronger and stronger and he could see no end to them. He was still fending them off but what it took out of him would be fatal soon.<br>The bleed off from the energies he channeled through his mind were heating up his body in a far greater degree than normal. His body temp had left it`s normal bounds some time ago and now the heat started to decompose vital proteins in his body.  
>If this were not to stop soon he would end as a rubbery mass with his proteins coagulated to a solid mass like the fluids of a boiled egg. The artificial fever was also starting to effect his thinking, making it more and more difficult to keep the concentration he need to keep up the spells. He would also need to replace the spirits distracting his enemy soon and he doubted that he could still do so.<p>

**Mountaintop**

"Hab ich dich, Mädel!"(I have you now girl) Helmut Bär was of course not talking loud to himself, this habit having been removed by his instructors long ago. He had scanned the coordinates that Command had given his group for a while now, and now he was seeing the shape of a Dark Elf at approximately that point. She was surrounded by strange glowing shapes which seemed to attack her but were becoming less and less numberous each second.  
>He was about to signal his spotter when he suddenly saw her illuminated with a strange halo which showed up in his starlight scope. Approvingly he waited for the results.<br>Suddenly the Elf started to run, but the halo did not leave her for a even a moment. The explosion that blotted out the sight came as no surprise, they had illuminated the target long enough.  
>He gave the coordinates to command, but doubted that anybody would find anything useful there. 3 kilogram of explosives may be a small amount for a 155 mm shell, but they still tend to ruin your day on a direct hit, mage or no.<p>

**Gate to slave pens **

Helga Meier was making history, even if she did not know it yet.  
>She had asked her cameraman to film the High Elf mage when he became agitated and started a discussion with an officer. Than it had become all too obvious that they were filming something much more important and dangerous than a troblesome Elf.<br>The sight of the Elven mage who had so obviously and ably defended them all had been captured on her camera in all it`s horrid glory. She would have nightmares about his eyes which slowly

over and turned white during the fight.  
>The sight of his aide who tried his best not to show his despair while guarding his masters remains was just adding to the impact.<p>

The relationship between High Elves and Germans would never be easy and would know ups and downs in future, but the picture of the old Mage who, arrogant ass that he might have been, defended them all to his death would be something to influence them for a long time to come.

Ilthies had seen this when he saw the Cameraman a while ago and had grudingly accepted his fate.

"**Sachsen" one hour later**  
>"Jesus Christ, this looks bad!" The boatswain who looked into the endoscope he had expertly inserted into the gun tube in front of him could of course swear much more inventively but was too busy trying to get all information from the picture in front of him.<br>Taking the handle of his intercom he contacted the bridge. "I checked the barrel as instructed. Please tell the skipper that we can shoot MAYBE another 50 grenades or so before we have to pull the barrel, it looks that bad. Yes, I know that it is supposed to last longer, but we fired so many shells in the last mission that the barrel heated up way past specs. Sorry sir, that`s the way it is.

**Gate to slave Pens, 20 minutes after that**

Uli Stoiber was slowly backing his "Wiesel" back up in the direction of the last two helicopters on the Quay. One was boarding the sappers who had mined the pens now. The smoke which still came from the way into the underground pens showed the destruction they had wrought.  
>When that helicopter took off he checked his surroundings again. He doubted the Spitzohren would get the blazing fires, which had begun to haze the infrared sights in the last few minutes, under control soon. While Uli had not seen that much of the city, he estimated that the Elves would loose a third of Hag Graef for sure. Seeing nobody he drove into his waiting CH53 backwards, still looking for the enemy. Escorted by two Tigers the last Germans left Hag Graef. Ulrich Stoiber was so exhausted that he was sleeping before the Helicopter was back on Seeadler.<p>

"**Seeadler, at Dawn**

" Yes Father, I think so too, please make it so." Admiral Lerbs replaced the handle of the intercom back at the holder and sat back. He felt drained of all energy now that the operation was over. That the last shot had been fire unfortunately did not mean that his work or those of his staff and the crews were over.  
>The slaves had to be properly distributed to the troop ships, the fleet had to resupply at sea soonest as so many munitions and other consumables had been used up. Lists of the losses had to be compiled. He caught himself dreading the writing of the letters to the relatives and tried to cheer himself up by checking the objectives for the raid and if they were met.<br>The Elves fleet was burned beyond recognition or buried in a mountain cave. The warehouses and pens which made the slave trade possible were smashed and the Dark Elves troops probably much worse than just decimated.  
>Several thousand slaves had been liberated from a fate quite literally worse than simple death and all of this with very low losses on the German side. Still, every loss was one too many and even the few slaves his orders had killed weighted heavily on his soul.<br>He listed with half his ear to the short service of thanks transmitted by the PA through Seeadler and the other ships of the fleet. The priest was doing all right but in his weary state it simply did not affect him right.  
>He started to look at the reports again when the singing started.<p>

Nun danket alle Gott  
>mit Herzen, Mund und Händen.<br>Der große Dinge tut  
>an uns und allen Enden,<br>Der uns von Mutterleib  
>und Kindesbeinen an<br>Unzählig viel zu gut  
>bis hierher hat getan.<br>Der ewig reiche Gott  
>woll uns in unserm Leben<br>Ein immer fröhlich Herz  
>und edlen Frieden geben<br>Und uns in seiner Gnad  
>erhalten fort und fort<br>Und uns aus aller Not  
>erlösen hier und dort.<br>Lob, Ehr und Preis sei Gott,  
>dem Vater und dem Sohne<br>Und Gott, dem Heilgen Geist  
>im höchsten Himmelsthrone,<br>ihm, dem dreieinen Gott,  
>wie es im Anfang war<br>Und ist und bleiben wird  
>so jetzt und immerdar.<p>

(Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,  
>Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;<br>Who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way  
>With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.<p>

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,  
>With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;<br>And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;  
>And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!<p>

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;  
>The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;<br>The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;  
>For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.)<p>

He never realised when he started to join the old song or that most of the staff in the room joined. It was an old song and a traditional one for German troops who had achieved something worthwhile.  
>What he did realize was that when the service ended the weight of his duties felt a little less and the feeling of accomplishment was making itself felt much more.<p>

**Chancellory, Berlin, Germany**

Angela Merkel, considering what had happened to Germany, was thankful for small favours. After about a year on this new world, diplomacy had fully returned to the german capital. In the first months, diplomatic delegations were from the Empire, the Nipponese splinter and the Dwarfs only, but that had finally changed.  
>While it was far too late for the german-bretonnian relations after the regrettable, but needed actions soon after the arrival, a Bretonnian embassy had opened only a few days earlier. Now a "grand" total of 4 embassies and 21 permanent envoys, mainly from the various Border principalities and Tilean city-states, constituted the diplomatic quarter of Berlin. Rather pathetic compared to the situation back on Earth, but a beginning.<br>This world was full of surprises, something the Chancellor and the rest of Germany were reminded of every few days. In Angela Merkel´s and the government´s case, one such area was the who, how and what behaviour showed up from the various delegations reaching Berlin over time.  
>For instance, Magritta´s envoy, from the famous city in Estalia, despite knowing about Germany rather early and good to reach by ship, arrived far later than High Khan Kublay from the Hung nomads of the Far East made something resembling a state visit!<br>Downright shocking, positive and negative, could be the displayed behaviour and general competence, because in some cases the non-humans were better to work with than the humans.

The preliminary height of that development sat before her. Two beings, which should exist only in the pages of a novel. But here on this world it was real. One of the two looked like a noble of old, tall, good-looking, self-assured, clothed in obvious finery, even if the style looked like a cos-player or re-enactor to german eyes.  
>The other man could barely be called that, looking like a real monster. But beyond that hideous visage one of the most brilliant minds on the Warhammer world resided. Not that the other guest of the Chancellor lacked in the brains department, far from it.<br>The negotiations had been fluid, but hardfought and at times enlightening for both the german chancellor and the two vampires. For all his might and intelligence, it had obviously rocked something within Mannfred von Carstein when Merkel told him: _It is not only the Liber Noctis in Altdorf which hinders you, Count, but your deeds far more. Fighting against your compatriots to rule over them, will never gain you what you want. If you want the respect of your peers, living or not, you have to show them what you can do FOR the Empire, not what you can do AGAINST it. There are many dangers lurking in the dark for the Empire and Germany or other nations here. You add youself to them far above the needs of your "condition", instead of fighting these things within or outside the Empire. _

It was clear, that this was a whole new point of view on his situation and Mannfred reminded himself to ponder this in all quiet later.  
>For now he closed a treaty with Germany about excavating the rich oil deposits found in the eastern ranges of Sylvania. Among the stipulations was one that meant that Germany and the Empire would build a railway to Sylvania earlier than some other regions. What a sweet victory for Sylvania, even if it was mostly because Germany needed the oil fast and in large quantities.<p>

After signing, the next part of the negotiations began and Mannfred was curious what else he and the Necrach had in common and the Germans wanted to have.

**Seeadler, several decks deeper**

Coming back to the Seeadler was an anticlimax to the medic. The high pressure of combat had left Ralf exhausted on the flight back to the ship already. He had somehow found the energy to replenish his backpack and the consumables in his deep pockets while wolfing down a couple of bread rolls the mess staff made for anyone who needed food on the hoof.  
>The Paratroopers he was temporarily attached to thought about a "We survived it" party which promised to be wild until their Captain intervened. He seemed to be really sorry about that, but pointed out they were still in enemy waters and therefore had to stay available. He hinted that he would be willing to sponsor the party himself a couple of days later.<br>As the noncoms were willing to support this everybody found how tired they were and went to their bunks.  
>Ralf was feeling that somebody had hit him with a hammer and so even did not remove more clothing than his coat and boots before crashing into a deep and dreamless sleep.<br>This was a good thing as the PA system was going off seemingly right after getting to sleep, even if it really was a couple of hours later, so even in his befuddled state he was ready pretty quick.

**Hag Graef, City terminus of harbour causeway**

The group of slaves was busily searching through the rubble of shelled houses for survivors. Their hopes of finding any were getting less and less as they had to dig deeper and only found smashed remains.  
>Not that they would have minded if all Dark Elves in Hag Graef would die suddenly and painfully but they had learned to mask such feelings carefully. Even the soldiers overseeing their work found more interesting places to be and trusted their Overseer enough to be elsewhere.<br>When they lifted a particularly heavy piece of masonry they uncovered a Druchii noble in especially elaborate combat gear. The flattened Torso and the way his head set showed them that they had found another victim of the German guns. The slaves gathered around the body to remove him from his grave the "corpse" stabbed his right hand directly through the chest of the slave closest to him. Moving so quickly that he seemed like a blur to normal eyes he killed the complete group by hand within seconds.  
>It would not do to show everybody that he could survive injuries that would have killed any other Druchii. If the population of Hag Graef would know of his demon his life would be short indeed.<p>

While his body slowly resumed a more normal shape he tried to look for a better place to be "rescued" from he took stock of his surroundings. He spotted another of the hellish flying machines that the Germans employed and was already starting to move to cover when he realized that the contraption was already headed back out to see.  
>In it`s wake it left a rain of something. While he was suspicious about them deploying a new weapon the "rain" drifted down slowly and seemed to consist of pieces of parchment. Feeling confident that his demon was able to avert enemies spells which might be fixed to the parchments he gathered one before it hit the ground.<br>It was amazingly white and even, with a very smooth surface. The letters were very much the same, and while a little simple showed clearly readable Druchii script:

**Nobles and Citizens of Hag Graef**

One year ago you saw fit to raid our country. Your Corsairs murdered and tortured our countrymen who had done nothing to earn them such a fate.  
>Tonight we made sure you cannot do this again anytime soon.<br>For the future,  
>Do not raid Germany again.<br>Do not attack German citizens.  
>Do not take Germans as slaves.<br>Or we will be back.  
>And then we will show you what Germans do when they are really angry<p>

The scream Malus Darkblade issued reverberated all around the City, making being found in an inauspicious way much harder.

**Seeadler, CIC, several hours later **

Admiral Lerbs was groggy as hell from lack of sleep and the aftereffects of too much adrenaline that had no place to go. He still pulled himself together for the emergency that had been laid into his lap.  
>His S-1 described the new situation:<br>A Kondor flight spotted 2 fleets which try to intercept our way back to Germany. We send a Sea Lynx to have a closer look and found that we avoid one fleet or the other, but not both of them. So we have to fight our way out.  
>Position of the first fleet is here, it`s course is 124 degree and the average speed is 9 knots. The second one is here course 110 at 10 knots.<br>Both consist of upwards of 40 ships each with an even mixture of Skiffs and hydra ships. Unfortunately both fleets contain 4 Galleys each.  
>"Scheiße" Nobody looked too hard on who had made this statement as it was unprofessional but summed up their feelings nicely.<p>

The S-1 changed places with the S-3 who handled operations. We have to fight one of the two fleets obviously. We have enough munitions on board to sink all ships if we have to, so that is not a problem.  
>We prefer to go though second fleet as we have to cross uncharted waters close to some islands if we want to sidestep it.<br>The problem is what to do about those galleys. We can stop them without sinking them, but we have to decide if we take the slaves on board. First off it is possible that parts of the first fleet reach us before we did so-that we are able to handle. The question is if we can take care of the slaves or if we have to leave them to the bleeding "Spitzohren"  
>Admiral Lerbs looked at the S-4, who winced. " Presently we have 3720 ex-slaves on board of "Papenburg" and Regensburg". This is 10% more already than anticipated in the planning already and I am not sure if the medical staff can handle….<br>He was interrupted by the Admiral: "Gentlemen, from tonight you and me will sleep in the wardroom. We have to look on how many sailors and troops must be made to hotbunk.  
>Detail some Paratroopers to look after the better off slaves and exchange some more of them for medics from the transports.<br>"Yes, sir"

**Seeadler, Hangar **

Paul Müller had seen the hangar many times now and still marveled how big it was. Normally the hangar deck of any carrier is quite cramped, but as the Seeadler current Helicopter complement was low it had lots of space.  
>He was wondering if he got soft in his <em>old<em> age of 29 as he had volunteered for something-his years as a professional soldier should have beaten that out of him.  
>While the assault on the Galleys was done by the Marine Infantry the medics needed for getting all the slaves out had to come from the Paratroop department again. And as you could not send the hapless medics into enemy ships unguarded they started looking for volunteers.<br>Maybe he could say that he was still asleep when he got asked?  
>He found a group of medics at the spot he had been told to look, they were just checking the gear they wanted to take with them.<br>One of the medics stood out, obviously older than the others and for whatever reason carrying an old-fashioned G3 on his back. He also looked vaguely familiar.  
>"Are you the medics detailed for "Moewe 23?"<br>"Yes, we are. We`ll be ready in 5 minutes or so, then we wait again."

"Ok, I will get my guys then. BTW, I am not sure if we met before."  
>"Have you been at the Battle of Papenburg?"<br>"Yes, why…oh my God, were you one of these totally crazy Landwehr guys?"  
>"Yep, I was the medic who told you to get that bloody nose seen to. And we drank quite a lot of <em>Jever<em> together at the Party after the service."  
>" If you can remember that Party, you did not do it right."<br>" Ha, you tell me. BTW, do you have a little more info on that mission we are on?"

"Just rappel down to the galley after the Marines are done and get the slaves out" seems a little low.  
>"What do you expect, number of enemy combatants, number of slaves, armament and route of retreat, something like that?"<br>"Yup, something like that …"  
>"Welcome to Operation Clusterfuck, dreamed up at a moment`s notice by REMFS who will not be on it", he laughed.<p>

"Did they ask you to volunteer too?"  
>"Yes, but I was asleep…."<br>"Cut it. And I should not be talking."  
>"We must be totally crazy!"<br>"Yes, we are. God bless us, there are none like us!"  
>Shaking their heads they went back to their tasks.<p>

**Tiger UHT, close to enemy Fleet, 2 hours later**

The gunner in the Tiger had, as always, a grand view of the scenery. And a grand view it was. The Druchii had approached the Germans in several groups of ships, all superbly handled and obviously planning to attack the German formation in several waves.  
>All of that plan was gone now, as the fleet escort ships had attacked them about 10 minutes ago. Their 76 mm guns were firing rapidly at the Elven Sailships. They were using weapons systems build to intercept low flying cruise missiles and supersonic planes to shoot at wooden ships that did 10 knots or so, twenty under good conditions. There were no misses.<br>While the ships did not sink quickly, that is very hard to do with wooden craft, they again showed their tendency to burn well enough. In other places Tiger helos shot at the enemy with 70 mm rockets and their guns with results that were not dissimilar, maybe just a little better in the firestarter department.  
>All of that was just of passing interest to him as his pilot was doing a beeline to 2 Galleys who were approaching the troop transport in line formation.<p>

Taking out a Druchii galley was difficult as they were rowed by slaves, whom nobody wanted to kill needlessly. While the use of a fire ship was tested during the Battle of Papenburg and worked well, it was a little awkward and difficult to coordinate far from home, so something better was needed.  
>On both Pylons his Tiger carried two containers which looked like external fuel tanks and actually had started out like that. Immediately before overflying the Galley he triggered the release for one Tank which started to deploy an aerosol which was further distributed by the downdraft from the rotor to cover both galleys generously.<br>Capsicum is the stuff which makes peppers and Chilies' "hot". If it is dissolved in an oily solution and weaponised it has mostly the same results on men or Druchii then the CS-grenades used to such effects on the Dark Elf soldiers on the causeway-in spades.

**CH53 Helicopter, close to Sea Battle**

The Helicopter with the call sign Moewe 23 (seagull 23) was patiently waiting for the Marines to give the all clear signal. The Pilots had watched them rappel onto the craft. While the Galleys had lowered the masts for combat the decks of the flimsy craft were unlikely to withstand the weight of a helicopter.  
>Presently the marines were assembling on both ends of the galley and prepared for the assault. "You know what this reminds me of?", asked the slightly bored Co-Pilot.<br>"Nope..."  
>"Come on! In the hold of that ship are a few nervous soldiers, waiting for the assault from above, and in the assault group one guy at least is breathing through a mask!"<br>It took the Pilot less than 5 seconds to make the connection and laugh. "Yep, you are right. Just the good guy/bad guy roles are slightly reversed."  
>"Dunno, maybe you can ask one of the Spitzohren about that...", the twinkle was lost due to the seat positions. They spend the rest of the waiting time humming the "Imperial March" and alternately simulating Darth Vader breathing, all the while making sure that their intercoms were not connected to the wireless.<br>When they saw the marines storm the hold the Co-Pilot quipped "One thing is for sure, the Spitzohren will not protest that they are on a diplomatic mission."  
>"Do Dark Elves have diplomats?"<br>"Dunno, maybe after this operation they will have?"  
>They got the all-clear soon enough and brought their passengers to the Galley without mishap.<p>

**Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Germany**

Despite not exhibiting the strange moods of the namesake, Detlev Sierck earned the nickname "Tasmanian Devil" from the workers in the biggest Theatre in Berlin. The most famous playwright in the Old World knew exactly how his plays should work and so during preparartions he tried to be at all places at once, frequently rotating between all important locations.  
>As a costume worker said: "We all are sure that one day <em>the Chef<em> will meet himself in a hallway."

The Weltensprung had cut off Germany from home, so all movies, TV series, theater plays were guarded well, to not loose the rests of one connection to Earth. But humans being human, all the stranded Earthers needed and wanted something for free time. German movie makers, playwrights and the classics lived through a new golden time, but soon the german population wanted to taste the local stories. And one could say anything, but despite being at war very often the Old World had a lot of culture to offer.  
>Detlev Sierck was easily on the level of Shakespeare and it showed. He and his wife Genevieve became rich giving showing rights to German theatres and at special occations the master himself travelled to Germany to direct one of his plays.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

**Druchii Galley**

Paul Müller scanned his part of the Galley hold again but found again nothing threatening. The industrial size pepper spray had done it`s job rather well and the marines had not been in any mood to give much quarter. All "Spitzohren" which had been still clutching weapons (or had been sufficiently near them, in some cases probably on the same ship) had been shot. The very few survivors had zip-ties and would not be a threat for anybody until the medics got along to clean their eyes with some oil.

The water flasks near some of them showed that they had tried to clear their eyes on their own before they encountered the marines-that had just made things worse. Without an oily detergent clearing out the aerosol was nearly impossible.  
>Paul did not like his protective mask any more than anybody else, but presently he was positively grateful for it as both the rests of the Pepper Sprays would doubtless be a problem as well as for the protection from the stink in the hold.<br>Behind him he heard the medics working on the slaves, establishing transport priorities, giving water and generally calming them down. Together with some mechanic ratings they did their best to get rid of the chains the Elves had riveted shut to fix their rowers for the duration of the journey.  
>Both hydraulic cutters and simple sledgehammers and bars were used. Acetylene torches and similar were rules out because of the fire risk.<br>He felt the ship shake as if in a gale when a CH53 took the next batch of slaves to one of the ships. He had already heard that some slaves would end up on "Seeadler" and that their living area would become smaller-he was so enthused about that-NOT.

**Sachsen**

Captain Schmaeling watched the approaching Druchii fleet from the bridge. He should have been in the CIC, but if his Admiral had gone bonkers so could he. This was his first opportunity to study the Elves ships personally up close. Normally they should never have been able to get that close, but Command thought it clever to try something new.  
>The view of the approaching ships nearly made up from that. Compared to the imperial ships he had already seen the seemed better made, showing an elegant menace that was just tempered a little by the knowledge that this fleet could be matchsticks within 10 minutes if he so choose.<br>He heard rather than saw the 4 Sea Lynx Helicopters first which overflew him and dropped 4 depth charges each in even rows rather close to the Dark Elves. Set to detonation at low depth they pushed up impressive waterspouts which were higher than the masts of most ships.  
>He did not have to look but heard that Bremen and Köln lit off their seldom used Gas Turbines to play their part.<br>Well, looks nice enough-lets see if the Admiral is on to something or we have to pay for his inspiration.

**Kar`s Spear, Flagship of the Kar Karond fleet**

Admiral Malik was experiencing something like a mental overload. He did not even feel the spray that was wetting him from the huge waterspouts that had erupted all over his fleet. The even distance and obvious lines along which the explosions were placed showed that these were not misses, but deliberately placed.  
>The Dark Elf fleet was always one of the more dangerous on the Ocean. That they were among the fastest and most maneuverable meant that even if confronted with a superior enemy they usually could cut their losses and fight another day, if they were not cornered.<p>

He knew he was just an hour behind the first fleet as they wanted to pincer the brash invaders at about this place and all he could see of these ships were burning wrecks or the flotsam that indicated the resting places of others. To say that this sight was a shock to him was an understatement-this was attacking the very foundations of his worldview.  
>Flying machines of huge size were making their way over the wrecks and smaller ones over his ships. The enemy ships seemed to be huge as mountains. What made it doubly bad was that two of them started to accelerate like a well driven Chariot and quickly attained a speed at least double of what his better ships could do. In a show of precise seamanship they rounded his fleet in mere minutes and arrived square on his route of retreat.<br>Over all of this the flying machine which approached went nearly unnoticed and he had a hard time understanding the speech which issued from it. It took 3 repetitions before he made the mental connections to understand the Reikspiel: "Parley"

**Seeadler, 1 Hour later**

Admiral Maliks mental overload did not get any better. He had agreed to meet his enemy on his flagship-it was clear that the Germans could kill him whenever they wanted anyway. If he were to come back to Kar Karmond any little bit of information he could gather would be valuable.  
>But where to start? In many cases he lacked the framework against which to compare his findings. The ship he was on was of immense size and the only thing he could compare it to was a Black Arc. But they were a huge piece of floating rock that the elves had tunneled and build on like maggots on a corpse. Here the whole size of the ship seemed to be utilized.<br>Everything was amazing-all rooms seemed to be magically lit and were actually heated. Whatever drove this Leviathan was well hidden. The ship seemed to be constructed from Steel-but how could anybody amass so much steel and shape it?

Over all this grandness he still saw that the Germans did not spend much energy to shape things in an elegant way or to adorn such their surroundings. Everything looked plain and utilitarian.  
>The Germans themselves looked similar-no gaudy colors, bright armor or flashy jewelry like their imperial counterparts would have shown. Everybody seemed to show more or less the same clothing except for the soldiers who escorted him and his entourage. Even there the human who had been presented to him as "Admiral Lerbs" showed the same clothing like his sailors, just some markings seemed different.<br>He seemed tired but determined to him. He was experienced enough to work his way through the introductory formalities "on autopilot" while he still tried to take everything in. Bu then it became time to apply all his resources on the Parley.  
>"So, Admiral Lerbs - you deny the will of Malekith himself by being here in our waters. You have attacked Hag Graef which is under his protection. So what more do you want to load upon your shoulders before your fate catches up with you?"<p>

"We have done what we came to do and are on our way back to Germany. You are in our way -be elsewhere. If you can do that both of us can leave unscathed. The only thing we require is that we take the slaves from your galleys and then you can go."  
>"What!? You come here, raze one of our cities, sink a fleet, kill untold numbers of Druchii and then ask me to handle over my slaves and I can go my way if it pleases you. Who do you think you are?"<p>

"Admiral-you are remarkably frank. Let me return that: You can take the deal I offer to you. I can even sweeten that a little: We took some prisoners during the recent skirmish-you can take them. But if you decide to fight, then your ships will be sunk in the next 30 minutes AND I will be taking off the slaves you consider yours. I would be unpleasantly surprised if you manage even to scratch the paint of any of my ships during the fight.  
>Now what is it going to be: Sail home or swim?"<br>In the hundreds of years of his life Maliks could not remember hating anyone more than this tired human, but still there was only one answer he could give. He just hoped that the prisoners he would bring back would be enough to save his hide from the wrath of Malekith.

**Top Secret**

**For internal use only**

Plan "Marine 2530"

The Weltensprung last year was a turning point of enormous propotions for all Earth Humans, known or unknown, shifted to this world. The tasks of the Bundesmarine changed very much with the geological and political landscape. Different nations, differing tech levels and vastly greater distances.  
>Local tech level makes a "low" tech solution possible, but this has other dangers inherent. Expertise once lost has to be regained far harder than keeping knowledge alive. This plan is made with the underlying assumption that Germany will not return to Earth in the next century, if ever.<p>

Basic guidelines  
>- The tasks for the Marine are the following: Coastal and River Defence, Control of the local sea (in this case the Krallensee), Convoy duty for the merchant fleet, Power projection around the globe and fighting enemy shipping.<br>- All units will be equipped with high power active Sonar arrays due to local threats  
>- All units are to be equipped with Frau Meikles Magieindikator<br>- Local fleets make optical camouflage viable again, all surface units and if appliable due to mission type U-Boats too  
>- Depth charges for surface units<br>- The Marine needs warlocks and war witches of her own to fight enemy spellcasters  
>- Main Naval Bases are Kiel (Kommando Krallensee) and Wilhelmshaven (Kommando Hochsee) Both bases will be rebuild to the fortification status akin the Reichskriegshäfen of Imperial Germany<br>- Additional Safe Haven harbours for both civilian and military ships will be Hamburg and (when the channel is completed) Wismar  
>- SAR and Naval Zeppelin stations will be build in Papenburg, Tondern and Stralsund<br>- Fast Response half-flotillas will be stationed at Papenburg, Emden, Norderney, Cuxhaven, Heligoland, Havneby, Flensburg, Eckernförde, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, Stettin (Kiel, Wilhelmshaven are special cases and can react with forces above that level)  
>- Docks for wooden ships are to be erected at Stettin, Rostock, Kiel, Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven and Papenburg. This is a temporal measure until allied nations have changed over to Steel ships.<br>- The vast distances make long range ships a must. U-Boats and capital vessels are to be equipped with Rune-Turbines, emergency march Diesel for back-up.  
>- Use of Drones is encouraged, saving ressources and lowering the danger for human personal<br>- It has to be understood, that on Earth the composition of the Navy following this plan would be incomplete, but the situation here makes a compact or condensed version of ship classes not only viable, but financially cheaper too.  
>Shipclasses:<br>U-Boat types U 212A and a long range version U 218  
>Frigate types 124 and 125<br>FAC type 148 in three variants  
>Small Patrol Ships KFK-class<br>Corvette type 131  
>long range combat escort re-designed Admiral Hipper class<br>Battleship type re-designed Bismarck- or H42 class  
>CV types have to be examined until 2525, for now they are not needed and too expensive both monetary as infrastructural<p>

**Berlin, Office of the Chancellor, 1 day after the parley on Seeadler**

The Colonel the Bundeswehr sent for briefing the German government about military developments had a lot more to say these days than a little more than 1 year ago. He finished his briefing with:  
>"….so now Task Force Stein has completed their mission and is now back on it`s way to Germany. They are past most threats that the Dark Elves might offer so this part of the operation went as smoothly as can be expected.<br>As planned the assault on Hag Graef took so much attention from the Druchii that Task Force Hardenberg went in unobserved. They have met their target and are currently unloading. Here too we do not foresee any difficulties. Are there any question Mme. Chancellor?"

"No, thank you, that will be all."

**Seeadler, several days later**

They layout of the Seeadler was the maze to end all mazes. Ralf Winkler was counting corridors and stairways when he made his way, all the while keeping lookout for hammocks that some poor "hotbunked" soldier had rigged up to spend some rest time.  
>Finally he arrived at a his destination. Formerly a room to house a Squad of troopers it now held 12 Dwarves rescued from the slave pens.<br>He had been saddled with keeping an eye on these and some other "stumpies" as his experience in their rescue gave him more traction with the stubborn Dwarves than other medics would have. "Morning folks, how are you?"  
>"Same as yesterday and same will be tomorrow.". A couple of days had only passed since their escape and the Dwarves were already sliding into a quite grumpy mood. Not that they had no reason for that.<br>The Dwarves had talked about their future prospects and that had not been a happy occasion. The Dwarves which had not been slaves so long as the rest were pretty sure that their respective clans would no longer accept them. Being a slave instead of dying heroically had a very bad reputation. The Dwarves which had actually been born in slavery had probably an even worse status.

Ralf had assured them that they could get asylum in German (that had been cleared up even before Seeadler set sail) but of course a life in exile held less attraction than going back home.  
>"Well, I have a little bit of good news for you: They had the second operation on Ulf on "Papenburg" and it went well. He is out of it and already asks for Ale, so he should be well. And no, infection is not a problem –so far our medicines can kill all of them.<br>Snorri is so well that they will probably fly him over tomorrow. The bad news is we will have to find room for him in here or the next room. As some more people are exchanged between Papenburg and Seeadler the lunch and dinner shifts will be moved: You now have lunch from 1:00 to2:00 and Dinner from 7:00 to 8:00."

"Did the arrangement with the armorer work out? He promised me you could use his workbench and some of his tools?" Ralf had arranged some "workshop time" for the Dwarves in the hope it would settle some of their uneasiness. Björn Olfson, who had emerged as a speaker for the better-off Dwarves  
>"Thanks, yes. He was very helpful and nice. He even rigged a forge for us so we could make something."<br>"You still seem unhappy?"  
>"Ah - one of the mechanics showed us the engine of a "Wiesel". When he disassembled parts of the... the fuel injector we learned how good you are. Don`t get me wrong but for all time the best metalwork came from us - even the Spitzohren have to admit that and now you show us metal parts which are so precise that even our language does not have a good word for the size of the tolerances."<br>"Come on guys, from what I know you get to be very old. You can learn to do as well or better." "Thanks, we will see about that. But be that as it may be, we have a small gift for you"

He handled the medic a flat bundle of cloth. He unwrapped a slightly curved small plate of metal which showed a rune on it`s surface. The rune seemed to reflect light in a slightly wrong way. "Sorry for my ignorance, but what is this?"  
>"This is an plate for your armor vest. We compared the size to the witness plate in your vests and it fits. The rune is a mage breaker-it protects you from magic."<br>"Wow, thank you. I can certainly use that!"

When the medic left the cabin he was still holding the plate and made his way through the corridors again when he rounded a corner and squarely collided with the breast of a huge human. Looking up he recognized one of the mages that accompanied the task force.  
>"Please excuse me Herr Flammbach, I should have been more careful."<br>"Nothing happened young man. Actually, you could repay whatever guilt you feel by pointing me the way to the doctor's office."  
>"Certainly, you need to go up one deck. Let me show you the way."<br>"Thanks, I`ll gladly accept that."  
>"Ah, sir, one question if I am allowed. I just got this plate which is supposed good against magic. Is it any good? It at least looks like that."<br>Hannes Flammback stopped himself laughing just in time, many Germans had similar questions and had usually bought some worthless trinket. The plate the German handled to him looked different from these though - not enough flash, just a plain plate. Concentrating on the Winds of Magic for a second he was quite astonished.  
>"That is the real deal, my friend - a rather potent anti-magic ward. A good work."<br>A little while later Ralf Winkler was whistling tunelessly while he made his way through the ships. He was debating with himself whom to approach and how, but his doubts about the future of this dwarf group was mostly gone.

**Pfeildorf, Wissenland, the Empire**

The number of people ringing one restaurant terrace at the city´s main market was not as large as when the two Germans first came to Pfeildorf, half a year earlier, but still substantial. Franz and Inka Siebert had eaten well, once again with some exotic ingredients, unknown to Earth cooks until now.  
>Franz was busy hammering away on the laptop, writing down additions to their report before the last of the reserve akkus would be out of power. Inka patiently answered questions, while asking some of her own. Like so many times before, the people in the Empire wanted to know about <em>theirstrange cousins<em> from Deutschland. The first time the couple was in Pfeildorf, rather early after the Weltensprung, they had been inofficial ambassadors, making sure to paint Germany in a positive light, but at the same time warning about the impossibility of Germany to take in all persons.  
>Now on their second trip to this part of the Empire, Franz and Inka could concentrate more on their main work, writing for Baedecker. The Weltensprung had been an epochal event, especially among the makers of travelling literature. Within eight minutes, their books and DVDs became nostalgia of a lost home.<br>Still, Baedecker, one of the pioneers of travelling books, was eager to rise to the challenge. Nobody believed that mass-tourism outside Germany would start within some years, that would take longer, but Baedecker on Earth had begun to write about other lands before the advent of the real tourism industry as well.

Nevertheless, there was a big problem. Their new home was more dangerous than Earth was. While Earth had enough hotspots of crime, war and other dangers, on Warhammer only few regions could be called halfway secure. So only volunteers went out. Franz and Inka had been among the more cautious. Only travelling to cities and using the best river boats and wardened roads. Others were more brave or foolish in the couple´s opinion, but that sometimes boldness wins was seen during Christmas season, when Baedecker brought out the brandnew "Norsca - The Skaeling Lands" book. Still, nobody could overlook the dangers and it was only a matter of time until one of the bolder voyages would end tragical.

The Sieberts were amazed at the changes the time between their visits to northern Wissenland brought. During the first voyage the people were awed by even the smallest things and the couple was saved from zealous witchhunters mainly by the reputation that Germans were as magical as stone.  
>Now in the really rural areas not much had changed, but in the cities and bigger towns changes could be seen. Be it a craftsmen using a modern tool (mostly the only one in the pack or a small selection), expansion or building of sewer systems, paving of roads, small steps, yes, but the beginning of a new age in the Empire.<p>

**Stuttgart Stammheim, High Security prison**

482-the number of Wire meshes in her Window.  
>1202-number of Squares in her current bed cover.<br>2:32-time her wash basin needed to fill itself from the slightly leaky faucet when she plugged the drain.  
>The fact that she knew all of this showed that the Germans had found a way to hurt her - boredom.<br>The Germans had not allowed Jasla to mix with the other Druchii and meetings with the rest of the prisons population had not come to a good end. Showing her ability and willingness to attack the German guards again and again caused her numerous hematomas and provided some entertainment. The ultimate result unfortunately was that her food was delivered to her through a slot in her Prison cell door so even this small contact lacked. She had been provided with German books, which she could not read well and could not relate to, the cultural gap was too big. The times she was allowed to watch television made her wish for more boredom.  
>That the collar she wore and some of the trinkets cut her off from her magic senses made the boredom even more unbearable - the human equivalent would have been incarceration with plugged ears.<br>Into her boredom recent events mixed despair. So far she had hoped that the Germans would sooner or later loose battles with her kind and that they would try to exchange prisoners. The news she had been shown about that battles had taken even this slim hope away. In her blues she had gone for an interview with a psychologist.  
>Before that she had always rejected such proposals, but by now anything which made her day any different was good. Now she was sitting in an interview room at a desk with her hand and feet secured to a heavy chair.<br>The woman which entered her room was still prattling with the guards about confidentiality and no observation before she turned to her and locked eyes with her. In a flash she knew that boredom was over.  
>Petra Heim was desperate, this interview had to succeed. She had been studying long enough and her doctoral thesis supervisor had made it very clear that he expected her to do her thesis about the Dark Elves if she were to finish her studies at all.<br>That old fat pig had approached her a couple of months before. The thought of his clammy hands touching her was making her shudder, not that the thought of being touched by any other man was much better. Her rejection had soured the relationship to the supervisor considerably. She had at first wondered why he had assigned her what could be a prestigious project, until she heard that all Dark Elves so far had rejected interviews at every opportunity. Now she was in a trap and was not sure how to get out of it.

Trying to hide her nervousness she sorted her papers on the desk while looking at her subject through her eyelashes and trying not to stare too obviously. While she had seen pictures before they had not done Jasla any justice. She was tall, slender and even after one year in prison obviously of a wiry strength. She still had enough curves not to look androgynous. Her high cheekbones, slightly slanted eyes which lacked the fold which humans with such eyes normally showed and sharp lines made her an undeniable beauty. That it was the beauty of a well forged rapier and not of a less dangerous kind was equally obvious. That mere human could capture and hold such a perfect predator seemed incredible to Petra.  
>Finally she pulled herself together.<br>"Good morning Frau Jasla. I am Petra Heim and here to interview you. The warden told me that you agreed to a series of interviews about you and your kind."

The pause in which nothing was said seemed to last for hours, even if it did not. When she was about to say something stupid Jasla finally addressed her.  
>"Certainly I will talk to you, child. I keep my promises always. But there is one small condition: For every question I answer, you will answer one of mine."<br>That was of course not possible. It was unprofessional and would both violate her ethics code as well as the guidelines she had been given by the prison. There could only be one answer.  
>"Yes, mam."<br>She left the prison a couple of hours later in a daze. During the interview she had bared her soul to Jasla like she had not done for any human she had ever known.  
>Driving home she was so deeply in thought she never even realized that she had creamed her pants.<p>

**Bückeburg, Army Aviation Training Center, Same day**

"This, meine Herren, is you new steed, provided that you successfully complete your training. Yes, this is the first fixed-wing plane our Army Aviation uses after many years. No, It cannot take off and land vertically and it has no provision for laser-guided missiles.  
>But it can take-off on a unprepared runway of 50 meters and land on 25 meters even if there is no wind. It has a 300 hp diesel engine that takes less than 10% of the fuel of a helicopter per flight hour and is so quiet that you will not be heard from more than 300 meters.<br>You can take 5 passengers or their equivalent weight in sensors. Any of you have an idea on which plane this might be based on? Nathan Alpers had was still gazing at that fragile seeming wonder when the answer presented itself .  
>"It seems to be based on the Fieseler 256 of old, Herr Hauptmann."<br>"Hey hey, somebody knows his planes, new and old. Spot on, this is the modernized version of the never build successor of the "Storch". Made by a joint-venture of Grob and Dornier. It is constructed from modern materials, mostly reinforced plastics and it can do everything it`s predecessor could do and more. Let me show you some details…"

Nathan thought it just as well not to have mentioned that he had that knowledge from a flight simulation he had co-developed in the old days and tried to concentrate on the info their trainer demonstrated on the plane. A beauty this was not, but it promised lots of flight hours in the old school way. He already started to fall in love with it.

**Papenburg, House in the suburbs, same day **

Wolfgang Böhler was bored. His wife had died of cancer before the Weltensprung and his job, while moderately well-paying, was mostly routine these days.  
>His former joy in life, hunting, had unexpectedly paled after the Battle of Papenburg. At that day he did not just have to stalk prey which would elope if he did not approach right or made sounds-here he had met a capable enemy and had met their measure.<br>His precise calm shooting had certainly helped to decide the battle. This was not only his own feeling, but the After Action Reports had made it quite clear that this was so.  
>All of that did not matter if he was honest to himself. A "Spitzohr" in his sight and the feeling of godlike power when he decided to pull the trigger was a drug he had been immediately hooked on and could not be replaced by anything else.<br>He was idly scanning what was left of the internet for everything about this battle when he found a "Never seen before" picture in an obscure platform. He was computer-savvy enough to check it with a virus scanner and mentally prepared to be disappointed when he opened the file.  
>To his surprise, it was what was promised. It was remarkable how good the cameras in modern smartphones were. The picture was obviously taken by an amateur and the lighting was not that good. It still showed in remarkably clarity a scantily clad Dark Elf woman lying half on her stomach and half on her side. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back and a ring gag held her mouth open. The bruise on her chin could not disguise her beauty and her eyes promised bloody revenge to everybody.<br>This did to make this sight one iota less erotic.  
>He instantly recognized the mage that had been arrested in such an embarrassing situation after the Battle. He started to laugh in memory but then found himself wanting more. A short internet search showed him that a lot more people were interested in Jasla. He considered if it would be a good idea to get in contact with some of them.<p>

**The Warp, sometime-anytime**

As this was the Warp no mortal could "see" the being as it was. The few which ever got a glimpse of it had to interpret their input in terms they could understand, so their descriptions did not have a direct bearing of the truth but nevertheless showed what the being wanted them to.  
>The descriptions all differed but most spoke about wings the size of mountains and a beak bigger than a ships prow, about wild colors and swirling patterns.<p>

The emotions of it were much more complex than those of a human, but the feeling of elation and frustration at the same time was a very close analog of its present state of mind. It`s realm were the plots and intrigues, the complex long range plans and strategies, the calculation of a butterflies wing beat and the movement of continents.  
>And "now" most of the plans were in disarray, their probable and desired outcomes changed beyond recognition.<br>Mostly, the being was happy and fascinated with Germany being on Warhammer. That new comer nation with her funny little people was a fresh wind on a planet where his brothers Nurgle and Khorne wielded far too much influence. Just arriving here with their alien ways of life had strengthened him. In a way, the being had developed "fatherly" feelings towards this nation. Not only did her actions curtail the influence of his siblings, no, the unexpected arrival revealed a whole new tasty world named Earth. That it was in a different universe, was nothing to a being of his power.  
>But Germany could become and already was part of his frustration all the same.<br>The Weltensprung could be the Wild Card to diminish the influence of the Chaos Gods to such a degree that this world would become useless to them - an event that would touch everything and mutate results in ways not fit to the wishes of their designer. New plans had to be hatched and implemented, but the frustration was great- as were the dangers. If sufficiently provoked the Germans might do things which could change the patterns…terminally.

Before he started the real work it seemed prudent to move some small pebbles to see which shape the avalanche would take. Here seemed to be a good start. His plan needed a focus-and here she was. It needed participants-there they were. Changing the quantum processes in some brain cells here-changing the brain chemistry there-inhibit the blood flow at a third place…  
>When he was done he was sure that some Germans which would otherwise be frustrated would find a target for their feeling-a goal and an aim. Lucky them…<p>

When he was finished he watched contently the consequences of his meddling unfold like a bunch of yarns unrolling into what humans called the future. He started to follow the threads one by one to see if this had the required results. Then he would "travel" to that new planet Earth, ahead of his "siblings". Hmm...maybe he would give Slanesh or Khorne a hint, maybe even Nurgle. That new world could be fun for all...  
>He was the Changer of Ways.<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

**Papenburg, House in the suburbs, same night**

Mathias Hartwig did not have to download a picture of Jasla from somewhere-he had made them. That any rule in the Swingers club forbade such things did not matter to him much-rules were for the common people.  
>Still, the sight of Jasla, bound and gagged against her will had touched something inside him he did not know it was there before. He had always liked SM-Games-the feeling of being in control spoke to him like nothing else.<p>

Unfortunately the sight of Jasla showed him that such things would always be only one thing-games. If his partner suddenly found the game was not to her liking she could always put a stop to it. Where was the real control, the real ability to break someone's mind and mold her to his liking? Where the chance to inflict more pain than his victim could stand and watch the expression when they realized that they were at his mercy-and not going to receive it?

He went from pastoral Papenburg to the much more urban Hamburg to find what he needed but found, in the end, only more of the same. Everybody adhered to this SSC (safe-sane-consensual) shit-were they all playing in kindergarten?  
>When he tried to have a session to his liking he was thrown out of the Catonium in Hamburg with a vengeance and it had been made very clear to him he was not to return. It had cost him some money to make sure it did not become a lawsuit.<p>

On top of this frustration he was becoming upset with the situation of Germany itself-finally there was a chance for Germany to grab all the resources they needed-and they were not taking them. The Hag Graef raid had shown again that the Bundeswehr could curbstomp any army on this forsaken world-and what did this country do? Talk about trade and development; ask nicely-it was enough to make him puke.  
>Maybe it was time to look for people who saw things like him. If he were to move outside of the constraints of Germany interesting things might be possible…<p>

**Lasbek, North Germany, evening of the same day**

Henning Wulf was as happy as he could ever remember being. He was stupid. Not a little, but major league stupid, just a spit away from being admitted into an institution. He was living alone in this small village ever since his father had died and left him the house and alimony. And his secret.  
>As his social skills were mostly nonexistent and his personal hygiene lacked as well he nearly had no acquaintances let alone friends. All of that had changed when a man had asked him for directions when he was on one of his aimless wanderings in the flat empty countryside. He was not surprised, city folks always got lost-or so his father always said.<br>He had led the stranger back to the road and his car. During this time the stranger had listened politely to his jokes and stories-something that had never happened before. He even invited Henning to a restaurant and had listened further.  
>He had promised to call Henning. To his utter surprise he indeed called back and they had met again at his home. Over the next weeks they had met more often and Claus did not only listen but also told him such stories as he had never heard before.<br>He had also brought Henning better Whiskey then he ever tried before. Just a good friend, something Henning never had before in his life. Last time he had hinted that he might have a secret that he could never share with somebody else. He had not seen his friends sudden interest or the angry look when he had sheepishly stated he could not show, it would not be a secret any more, wouldn`t it.  
>Claus, his friend, had promised him a surprise for the next visit-and what a surprise it had been. He had brought a beautiful woman with him. He was totally unsure what this meant and was even a little afraid of her. When they were settled in his living room he was not sure what to do next when she had walked over to him and touched him there while Claus just told him to enjoy his gift. This would be just what good friends do to each other. He certainly could not protest while she was doing such things to him. After a while he did not even realize that his friend had slipped out of the room, not while she was on him and moving in such ways….<p>

**Lasbek, Barn behind the Wulff house**

Claus Tolles shimmied the old lock of the barn with ease and opened the door only so much he could squeeze inside. The high-power lamp he played over the boxes stapled high in several stacks promised him that the rumors he had heard might be true and the time he had spent with that inbreed idiot was not wasted.  
>A little work with a screwdriver provided proof. Claus had such plans with this new world and he just had been provided with another part of the means.<br>When the beaten German army retreated in 1945 for many units the retreat ended in North Germany, where actually the last German government sat in Flensburg for a couple of days before they were arrested by the UK troops.  
>Many soldiers had just thrown away their arms at surrender and had went their ways to become civilians again, others had given them to the farmers who had sheltered them for a couple of days. Most farmers had given these weapons up after things became peaceful again or had made them a part of the foundation of the next barn they build when the penalties for having them became steep.<br>Old man Wulff had been different. He loved these weapons and liked to have as many of them as possible. He had bartered for these weapons with other farmers or promised them to put them into concrete in his next buying project as he had a small construction company.  
>This had of course waned over the years, but his collection had become a major going concern again when he obtained a contract to demolish an old Soviet barracks in former East Germany. When his men broke into a sealed storage room they found a wealth of arms. Promising his men to bring them to disposal and giving them a healthy bonus he had brought two trucks full of arms and ammo to his home.<br>When he died suddenly he had left this to his idiot son before he could do something about it.  
>Claus was looking at an amazing assortment of machine guns, assault rifles and other militaria. This was going to be great.<p>

**Great Forrest, the Empire**

Ernst Hermann watched the Transall fly over the expanse of the Great Forrest from a window of the "Hind" helicopter he was in. The Transall had the ramp open and a parachute pulled a cylindrical object out of the rear ramp.  
>The cylinder quickly disappeared below the canopy before a flash and smoke signaled the explosion of several tons of low-grade explosives. It was the fastest way make a clearing in the forrest sufficient to put his men down.<br>The Hinds overflew the newly made Landing Zone and then came in for approach. The two Hinds deployed the 4th Platoon KSK quickly and Hermann exited the Helo without looking back.

Assembling his Platoon the Lt. waited for his wireless operator. "Sir, the signal is still there, direction 095. Signal strength is consistent with estimated position, should be about 600 meters."

Lt. Hermann gave the go ahead soon thereafter and his Platoon entered the Great Forrest. This part of the Forrest had not been used by humans ever and was as Chaotic and full of vibrant Life as any Forrest could be. At ground level the light was very low, the air still, humid and smelled of decay. The sounds that reached the ears of the soldiers were muted and strange.  
>When the point man lifted his hand everybody stopped in his tracks and tried to make something out. First came the sounds, many different kinds of running, cries which had more to do with the animal kingdom than intelligent life, seemingly all around them.<p>

A group of Beastman vaulted a fallen tree and assaulted the KSK members, ending the waiting. There seemed to be no coordination in the attack, just the outbreak of aggression and a willingness to kill. First squad fired on them, quickly downing the Ungors with 3-round bursts.  
>Only one of them made it into hand-to-hand range with the point man who managed to deflect the spear strike with his rifle before putting another burst through the head of the beatman.<br>Hermann forced himself not to watch the fight too closely but to pay attention on other quadrants as well, a precaution which paid off when a number of smaller, quicker beasts tried to sneak on the Germans. As they had bunched up too much the Grenade from his AGS launcher took out half of them, the rest died quickly enough from rifle fire.

Sporadic attacks continued until they had nearly reached their Target, then they ceased. The Platoon used the break to reload and adjust their alignment while several scuts tried to sneak closer for a better look.  
>The scream that ripped the relative silence apart could never have come from a human throat-it was much too loud, much too raw and vital. It seemed to come from a brass horn. The creature owning this voice suddenly stepped in front of the soldiers like it stepped through a door-nothing one second, there the next.<br>Everything seemed to freeze when Hermann watched the huge Minotaur rearing up to his more than 3 meters height, brandishing his crude weapons and screaming another noisy challenge. It obviously expected one of the Soldiers to come forward and engage in single combat.

It did not take the small ball that was leisurely thrown in his direction as any threat-the flight path terminated less than a meter in front of him and the ball just trundled a small distance forward from there. Looking curiously at the foreign object and still trying to make up its mind it did not even notice the German dropping down – but the explosion of a Frag Grenade right between his legs caught his attention just fine.  
>That he survived the explosion long enough to issue another scream of a totally different note was testament to his vast strength, the headshots which ended it showed what it was worth.<br>From there fighting was very sporadic and mostly consisted of shooting those beastmen which by chance ran in their direction.  
>When they arrived at their designed target area it took their breath away. While it was not a clearing with open sky there was no brushwork or fallen trees so that there was some open space. The trees in the middle of this zone were twisted and turned, covered by strange protrusions and of sickly colors. From the largest tree several cages were suspended seemingly overlooking a huge stone which was covered with crude smbols.<br>The ground before Tree and stone was rich with offal in various stages of Decay giving off a huge stink and attracting clouds of insects.

While two squads secured a perimeter Lt. Hermann and the rest of the soldiers checked the contents of the cages. They all only contained skeletons, mostly free of their flesh and crudely reassembled with sinews, some even had been reclothed with Garments in bizarre fashions. The centerpiece of one group of Skeletons was a small black box which showed a red light every now and then.  
>"Seems like you should have paid more attention to the Imperial Scholars who told you beastmen are dangerous, Professor. And no Father, the beastmen did not just wait for your attempts at bringing them to Christ. But why did you two have to waste so many others for this…?"<p>

Talking to the dead is normally not associated with mental health but seemed fitting here. Hermann snapped out of it soon enough and organized the retreat, taking pictures and some samples for proof.  
>The Platoon took off in a different direction after that , a new clearing would be bombed for them soon in order to prevent ambushes.<p>

**Fruchthalle (Congress hall), Kaiserslautern, Germany**

The historical savvy among the people in and around the renaissance flavoured Fruchthalle, once erected as a market hall, now a hall for concerts and congresses, could not stop the feeling of a deja-vu. The flags of Rhineland-Palatinate were a distinct minority or fully absent, most flags showed the Palatinate Lion or the Flag of the Elector Palatinate of old, even some bavarian flags could be seen.  
>The Palatinate had seen much over time. During the Middle Ages the Palatinate had been one of most important regions of the Empire and well off. But from the double hit of the 30 Years War and the french pillaging in 1689, the Palatinate never recovered. Literally razed to the ground, her early manufactories destroyed, having lost more than 23 of all people, the region became an impoverished shadow of what once was.  
>During the industrialisation, being part of Bavaria at that time, it got better a bit, but the majority of the territory stayed agricultural, not being a central region anymore. When after WW2 the allies wanted to create Rhineland-Palatinate, the vote in the Palatinate was the last one and the vote was against going back to Bavaria. To this day rumours persist that that vote was rigged, because in the population of the Palatinate returning to Bavaria had been favoured.<br>Had the vote gone for Bavaria, the Allies would have had a problem, because the other votes in the Rhineland had been a no as well.  
>A second, later vote about the return to Bavaria was a no as well, but this not because of alleged rigging, but because more than a generation had gone by at that time and Rhineland-Palatinate had stabilized.<p>

It had started inconspiciously and small. When the shock of the Weltensprung had been finally shrugged off, some people recognized the chance that Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg now had with the nipponese splinter at their doorsteps. But the red-green government in Mainz hesitated. Needing the votes, Prime Minister Dreyer had to take into account the rather dogmatic Greens and their opinions, which were strictly against new roads and railroads in the Palatinate, despite now being on a planet with an intact eco-system. And more, unlike on Earth where Alsace-Lorraine was not the most strongly settled or important region of France, the Nipponese splinter was nearly as populous as Bavaria. A big potential was there.

The Palatinate, unlike the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate, was still having a regional assembly, the Bezirkstag, which was guaranteed in the constitution of the state and being a remnant of Bavarian times. This Bezirkstag, mainly responsible for cultural things in modern times, was flooded with petitions from the mayors and regional MPs for a reversion of the state government´s stance. One had to be blind and deaf not to see the possibilites, especially for the Palatinate and Baden, in the coming decades.  
>It came to a head after, with lots of frustration, one palatinatetian MP in Mainz said: "The Palatinate would be better off without the meddling of pig-headed, smug wanna-be politicians - politicians who are mostly not even from the Palatinate themselves!"<p>

How much of it was show or something which slipped through in the heat of the moment, cannot be said for sure, but it created waves. In a mixture of political opportunism and truly felt unease about the sluggish, dogmatic state government, MPs and mayors from the conservative opposition and even some from the government began to rally in favour of a new vote about the status of the Palatinate. In light of the Berlin-annouced major, soon to be reform of the federal states this became an unintended wildfire. Under normal circumstances it would not be much more than a footnote in history, but now a "Away from Mainz"" movement with substantial support had formed.  
>While her hometown of Bad Kreuznach had been prussian for a time, it had been a part of the Elector Palatinate once as well, so opposition leader Julia Klöckner became the slightly unwilling face of the movement. The Irony was not lost on her, since even among the revisionists only a minority was hardline against Rhineland-Palatinate, but the state government was in the process of flundering a big chance. A chance with not only big potential for all of RLP, but a security question as well, since the state had borders with the new wilderness outside Germany.<p>

Julia Klöckner essentially wanted to preserve RLP, but knew that would not be possible with this government. Even after the return of the KSK from a rescue operation, the gruesome details, the Greens among the govenrment like Lemke still spouted nonsense about the preservation of the lands outside Germany in the current form. An idiocy even the "Realo"-Greens led Baden-Württemberg put into the rubbish box soon after Hof.  
>Mainz did not get that the times and things to be done had changed profundly. The people of Rhineland-Palatinate on the other hand did. Indicated not only by the tens of thousand demonstrators in Kaiserslautern, but by the calm of the other parts of RLP as well. They accepted the frustration of the Palatinatetians and more, in the Eifel, another region with a border to local "flora and fauna", movements for more security had popped up.<br>So with a heavy heart, but sure to do the right thing, Julia Klöckner had told the Chancellor, her party friend, that she championed a partition of Rhineland-Palatinate in the upcoming reform of the federal states. Now the CDU-woman walked into the Fruchthalle for her speech. To prepare the people and win more votes for the coming end of the federal state.

**Quarry close to Altdorf, 4 Weeks after Seeadler Raid**

A series of detonations engulfed the whole cliff-like side of the quarry in sound and smoke, causing a substantial proportion of it to slide down in a huge debris cloud.  
>Heinz Albert did not look at this spectacle at all, he had closed his eyes to listen better. By his experienced ear the demolition had gone well, the stones formed by the explosions would contain an acceptable proportion of material which could be used as ballast for the ever expanding net of imperial railroads.<br>The exact amount, placement and timing of explosions to get the best proportion of gravel, stones or whatever was needed was part science and part art, he excelled in both.

He liked working here, the flesh pots of Altdorf were not too far away, the money was good and he worked well together with his team-but unfortunately things were coming to an end.  
>There was a new Railroad to be built to Middenheim and the distance from this quarry to the moving railhead was becoming too long. A new quarry was already designated and he had to work from there. As this quarry was within the Great Forrest life was about to become less comfy and more dangerous.<p>

**Wilhelmshaven, Quay **

Christine Winkler stood at the Quai of the military part of the Wilhelmshaven harbour. She was just allowed here as she could show that her husband was aboard the fleet coming into the harbour-the harbour and it`s entrance were packed with spectators, press, Busses and whatnot.

And there was something to see even for those who did not wait for a loved one to come back-the return of a victorious German fleet. This was only the second time since roughly a century that this happened in Germany-and the first time the return was such a public spectacle.  
>All ships of the fleet passed through a water gate formed by two fire ships and the ships horns drowned out the cheering of those who looked at them-mostly. There were signs and placards decrying the "Pirates" and "Murderers"-but for every one of them there were 10 which welcomed the Slave Liberators. Being stranded on this world was remarkable for setting the priorities of a lot of people right.<br>The fleet seemed to take an eternity to reach the quay and make fast and even longer for the sailors and soldiers to come down the gangways. While "Papenburg" unloaded the wounded and slaves by one gangway she was waiting at the other were the Soldiers and Sailors disembarked, many of them to be greeted by relatives.

Christine had to wait-and to wait-and to wait. While her husband was not on the list of the wounded or killed of the battle she had no personal confirmation that he was well. When less and less people left the ships she was close to tears and started looking for help when she was embraced in a bear hug.  
>"Hi Darling, here I am."<br>"What-why did you not leave that ship-you were supposed to be there?"  
>"In this mans army you go where they tell you. Long story, I tell you later."<p>

**Railway close to Dampflokwerk Meiningen (Meiningen Locomotive Works) same week**

Kurt Müller was a happy man, which was quite often these days. He used to be a volunteer railroad engineer test-driving Steam Locomotives for associations which owned a historical peace after they were finished their maintenance at the Meiningen Locomotive workshops.  
>Now he was the Chief Railroad engineer for checking out the newly build Steam Engines and one of the chief trainers for new personel.<br>These days the Meiningen shops were already the stuff of Legend, especially in the Empire which was having a severe case of the railroad craze. Not only that the railways could do so much, but they were actually understandable and gave the feeling of NOT being magic-just grand accomplishment.  
>The Meiningen workshop was actually able to build steam locomotives from scratch and was undergoing an expansion normally only seen under wartime conditions. Too many German railroads were still running on Diesel, which was still strictly rationed despite the supply situation getting better, whereas Coal was mined in Germany and accessible via the Empire as well.<br>The needs of the Empire were greater still. Most of the Steam Engines build were comparatively pedestrian cargo haulers but his current steed was different.

"Do you want your carriage pulled by a Stallion or a Plow Horse, your majesty?" was the question posed by their sales rep to Emperor Karl-Franz. His answer had galvanized the Locomotive works, THIS project was something everybody wanted to work on.  
>The enthusiastic monarch had given them the remit (and financing) to resurrect the Class 05 Locomotive-the fastest Steam Locomotive in the world. Officially the Mallard was the fastest Steam Engine, but everybody at Meiningen just knew that the 05 would have been faster if given a second run. The latter never happened because of the second world war.<br>It helped that they owned a half-sister and had overhauled her many times, so some parts and molds were already available.  
>Of course, being German engineers they could not leave that well enough alone. The Boiler was replaced by a welded one made from better steel, running at higher pressures and temperature. The boiler also featured a combustion chamber which made the boiler less vulnerable and an automatic stoker made the life of the crew far easier.<br>The engine was exhausting against a condenser, increasing efficiency again and reducing the water consumption considerably. This was a very German solution-exchanging a few percentage points of efficiency against a separate trailer full of condenser, but raised overall effectiveness.  
>The suspension was modified to 3-point in order to navigate the less-well-made railways in the Empire better.<br>Valves had replaced the sleeves of the old engine, lubrication and bearings were much improved. The shape of the train did not have to change, it was still as good as in the days it was first designed.  
>The train now could raise steam for more than 3200 HP and with a not too long train could go for 220 kmh easily. The Emperor was going to get his stallion all right.  
>The absence of a human stoker allowed him to take two understudies with him. One was an Imperial he was to recommend for further training - or not. The other was a freshly promoted "Feldwebel" from the Bundeswehr who was going to join the "Landwehr" units charged with guarding the trains.<br>The moderately big (for a German) towered above his imperial counterpart. Despite that he related well to him, as he spoke Dutch as well as German, so his ear for unusual Reikspiel variants was much better than most normal Germans.  
>Joakim Vos was formerly a Corporal in the Royal Netherlands Army on training in Germany when the Weltensprung caught him. Having enough German ancestors to "stay", he had to find a new role in life. Like so many other people Joakim wondered why Austria, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg and the german-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy did not get transported with Germany as a whole, the majority of people there had the same ancestor tribes as the Germans did. Especially when for example TetschenDecin, which had only a handful of Germans after the forced expulsion in 1945, had made the jump too. There were over a dozen theories flowing around, but there was no winner up to date.  
>Anyway, the expansion of the German armed forces had given him the chance to join.<p>

When the Empire and Germany decided to build the railways in the Empire they founded a Joint-Venture for that, the Kaiserlich-Deutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft.(Imperial-German Railway)

As some of the railways went through rather dangerous areas it was decided that the trains were to be armed and accompanied by Soldiers at all times. As these weapons were, among others things, remote control machine guns the armed forces of both countries insisted that they were to be manned by soldiers. Sigmar beware that some average civilian would control so much firepower.  
>To keep costs within reason it was decided that "Landwehr" units would be formed, combining work for the railroads with guarding the trains and manning the defenses where necessary.<br>That meant learning more about railways for Joakim and here he was.  
>The beep of the wireless set cut through the din of the locomotive. The railroad engineer listened in and started to smile even more broadly when he placed the speaker back into the receiver. "Ok folks, Center gave us clear space for the next 30 klicks and 20 minutes - lets make something out of it!"<br>Opening the throttle slowly, but to the stops he increased the speed gradually, all the while checking all gauges for anything untoward. And there were still gauges-no electronics in a train for the Empire beyond some cameras and screens.  
>The Train was doing 210 kmh easily and Kurt Müller was a happy man indeed.

**Wilhelmshafen, Seeadler, 3 weeks later **

Captain Werner was again at his desk late at night, even if this time the desk was on "Seeadler". His wife would not disapprove too much, she was far too happy to have him back in one piece. How long this happy state of affairs would last was open to speculation.

In one thing at least she was right, staying so long at his desk did nothing for his concentration. But since he was back, paperwork also had come back with a vengeance so he had no choice but to put even more working hours into the day.  
>He scanned the draft of the After Action Report that the staff had composed and which would be send to Berlin after Admiral Lerbs reviewed it. As he was the flag captain he had to make a review so a bad report would not reflect back on the Flagship.<br>Still he was so tired he found himself just scanning the highlights of the report

.  
>German Armed Forces:<br>Killed in Action: 59  
>Wounded in Action 103<br>Missing in Action 0  
>Ships lost: 0<br>Ships damaged: 0

Enemy combatants Killed in Action 5000 (est.)  
>Enemy wounded in Action 10.000 (est.)<br>Enemy ships destroyed 500 (est.)

Hag Graef Housing destroyed 38%  
>Of this Slave pens: 100%<br>Harbor Warehouse: 100%  
>Known Barracks: 75%<br>Freed Slaves: 4118, of these 3720 from Hag Graef proper

Recommendations:  
>Building up own magical defenses. The flags provided by the imperial mages seemed to be particularly effective. Also during transport some freed Dwarves provided plates with Runes of Protection which seem to work. Here we recommend hiring these Dwarves…..<br>The Magic Indicator worked fine, it should be developed further. Frau Meikle seems to be willing to accept a Seat at a German University…..  
>The Monarc system worked as well as could be expected. Still a navalised system with active cooling should be developed.<p>

"Seeadler" performed past expectations, but a change to a fixed Hangar and landing deck would improve efficiency markedly….  
>Ventilation and fire protecting need to be upgraded…..<p>

Several reports indicate that the G36 lacks power, especially against non-human targets. In 3 instances the old G3 worked better than the more modern gun….

Recommended for decoration:

.  
>Müller, Paul<br>Winkler, Ralf

He was fast asleep before he could finish. When his head hit the keyboard he reminded himself that this was work for another day.

**Papenburg**

Wolfgang Böhler had, to his surprise, not gotten rid of his initial infatuation with this Jasla "thing" and had indeed searched the net about her.  
>Finding that this seemed to interest a lot of groups he found one discussion forum mostly dedicated to her, her fate and her "philosophy". Strange that so many persons were interested.<br>The group seemed to cater a lot to people who were not so happy with the situation they found themselves in after the Weltensprung. It was strange really, he would have estimated that many of them would not have been interested-but they were.  
>He was much to adult to buy the Crap about Jasla as "Prisoner of War" which must be freed or stupidities like that, but he was still intrigued. There was a proposal for a real life meeting in 2 weeks' time in Hannover-that he could make. He was seeing not enough people anyway, so why not.<p>

**State Police Headquarters, Sonderkommission 14, Stuttgart**

"How is it going, Inge?"

"Quite well, I have to say. This interview with the prisoner Jasla delivered interesting details. While we are still checking some of the more outragious claims, like the repulsive behaviour of that "Professor" or several disturbing stories by our elven prisoner, Jasla´s informations are worthy, needed intel. I just hope we get her to repeat it under better circumstances. As it stands, we cannot use it in court for now as we got it with electronic surveillance in a juristically high dubious situation. But we can use it internally. Our state and federal governments, not to speak of the military and our police collegues, will be very happy to get hard info for use.  
>I just pity this poor student Petra. A pig as a docter father and her naiveness..."<p>

"I know, but what did she think? The rules in prison are set and if she really thought nobody would listen in... Still it might work out for her in one thing. She was not the first one this "savant" tried to force into sex. We cannot use Petra´s case, but we found another girl who will be witness in court. He does not know it yet, but Meier´s life situation will change drastically. And since he showed such interest into the Darkies, we might give him the chance to _personally_ meet them..."

**Great Forrest, 4 Weeks after the Seeadler Raid**

Garek Brightfur prepared to die. In his limited understanding this was the best way to prepare for a fight-accept that you are dead already and everything becomes easier thereafter. He had already fought an inappropriately high number of duels for his age, as the wild patterns of his fur had always shown him as marked by Tzeench, a very unusual state for a Minotaur.

His herd had never accepted him right as he looked different-not only his fur coloration but this slightly mismatched horns and his shape which was going more for wiry strength than for the brute power more usual for his kind.  
>Having won his duels he had been granted acceptance and status, but only grudgingly. He had barely accepted that he had risen as high as he probably would and would die in one of the many duels he had to fight sooner or later when the herds shaman had caught his attention.<p>

He had spoken to him of the bigger picture, of things he could hardly imagine but desire greatly and of a grand fate that awaited him. He had taken it for so much talk when events showed that the shaman actually knew what he was hinting about.  
>The Doombull who lead the herd since anybody could remember had such status that nobody had seriously challenged him in a long time. Then invaders nobody had seen before had invaded their realm, slain one of the Doombulls Champions and desecrated the herdstone.<p>

If this did not show that the Doombulls time was over-what else would it take. Issuing the challenge was easy-surviving it was the hard part.  
>The Doombull had a red fur which in parts shone like brass. He was easily a head taller than him and with his great girth weighted easily twice as much. And most of this extra mass was muscles with the hardness of old oakes.<br>His opponent gripped a long whip studded with barbs and a huge brass axe which was so heavy that he doubted he could use two handed easily. His enemy was far beyond any words, barely containing it`s rage enough to observe the minimal etiquette demanded by such a challenge.

Garek also found it difficult to concentrate on the Shamans prattling. The shaman had summoned him before the duel and had told him frankly that he was about to die-if he were not to accept his guidance. Being so close to the duel had made Garek more amendable to reason and he had allowed the shaman to perform a ritual he did not understand which involved the shaman blowing a black-green powder into his eyes. Ever since then his eyes hurt miserably, and he saw the world in a different way. How this was about to help him win the duel he did not know.  
>Still he had to fight despite all misgivings he might have about the outcome and even the shamans rants were coming to an end. Both contestants were moving into the circle formed by the members of the herd and the time for words was over.<p>

The old doombull attacked him with full force immediately by wielding his whip at his legs. He had seen this before-the doombull applying the whip around his enemies legs, immobilizing them for his axe. He managed barely to sidestep this assault. The whip still hit his leg with a force that would have ripped the limb of a human but only hurt him some and got little blood.  
>It was the same with the second assault, only that his axe this time even threatened to cut the whip. That was enough for the doombull to abandon all attempts at more complicated tactics and simply to try to run him into the ground.<p>

Garek managed to sidestep the assault in time and began to see what the shaman had done-he saw not only where the doombull was, he saw where he would be! How could he loose this battle now?  
>The Doombull attacked again but stopped short of Garek to swing his axe in an arc which would have decapitated him if he wouldn`t have parried against the flat of the great axe. He has to be careful there, if he would have tried that against the cutting side his inferior weapon would have been destroyed for sure.<p>

This started the pattern for the next phase of the fight-the bull attacked, he parried the strokes with apparent ease. The old bull got more and more frustrated and his breathing more labored, his attacks more violent and clumsy all the time. Garek was already looking for an opening to attack by himself and felt quite good about himself when the whip coiled himself around his legs.

Hooves are not a great way to stay on two legs so he fell immediately when the Doombull pulled on the whip, screaming his triumph at the same time. Garek cursed his stupidity at concentrating at the axe only when there was a second weapon around.  
>He managed to guide his fall enough to drop on his back-but that just meant he was able to see the bull lift his Axe for an overhead strike which was sure to kill him. Seeing exactly which way the axe was going he twisted his head and torso out of the way, putting his axe up in the vain hope to deflect the strike sufficiently. The blade of his axe missed the head of the onrushing weapon barely but found a different target. The roar of the doombull changed tone at the same time as a rain of severed finger parts struck Garek-who had aimed at the bulls hand, not at the axe.<p>

His enemies weapon dropped at the ground uselessly and the Doombull staggered back clutching the ruin of his hand while Garek came back on his feet. He ignored the pain in his legs and hand when he gripped the whipcord and pulled the Doombull into his strike which parted the triceps of the arm still holding the whip. Weaponless the doombull struck at his head with his bloodied Fist but the impact just made Gareks head ring. When he came back he saw that the Doombull had accepted his fate and bowed his head so he could take it off cleanly as a gift to Khorne.

Garek was spoken for by another so he did not comply, instead using his axe to strike at the Doombull again and again, removing limbs and inflicting painful but nonlethal wounds. The Doombull was strong enough not to scream but the lesson was not lost on the heard on looking with horror.  
>The final stroke opened the great chest of the bull so that Garek could push his claw inside and rip the beating heart right out. Lifting it over his head he pressed it like an orange and drunk the blood before consuming the flesh.<p>

The herd had so far looked in silent horror when the shaman brayed his masters triumph, this finally sundered the thrall which had held the tribe in silence.  
>Their combined scream echoed far across the Great Forrest, promising bloody tidings for everybody who challenged the mastery of the Children of Chaos in their realm.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

**Restaurant in Hemmingen, close to Hannover, 6 weeks after Seeadler Raid**

The big meeting room of the restaurant was full of small tables and small groups which were chatting amicably away. Missing was the cigarette smoke that would have "graced" such a meeting 5 years ago. Not only had Germany finally restricted smoking in restaurants in 2008, but decent tobacco was still very hard to get, so smoking was becoming less and less these days.

Claus Tolles was making the rounds in the room, taking here, commenting there and generally sounding out the members of the strange group that had assembled and whose common interest was Jasla.  
>He quickly heard who`s only interest was fetish, who was of the strange left wing crowd that wanted to free her on general principles-and who wanted something …..more.<p>

Remarkably many people in this room were dissatisfied with Germany's role in this new world which they saw as timid and too peace-loving. Many also had useful talents and some hinted at strange needs.  
>A chemist who was clearly a sadist, a bored-out-of-his skull sniper, a security professional with a crew whom nobody wanted to hire…<br>This was going to be great. He had given cards to those he thought interesting and hinted that a new, more excusive meeting needed to take place.

**Ambassade de Bretonia  
>Républic Fédérale d'Allemagne<strong>

**Très secret défense!  
>Seulement pour la vue de la majesté<strong>

**Berlin, le 4.4. 2521 IC**

It has been three months that I am ambassador in Germany. Three months, in which I was totally surprised. I served Your Majesty in many countries for 34 years, but even the most exotic countries I got to know like the kingdoms of Ind are not as "exotic" as this Germany. Yes, in Germany they have more the climate of her allies, the Empire, they speak a very similar dialect and have some similar traits, but they are on the other hand completely different.

At first they are on a technological level far too advanced. Not only their military, what we had to learn the hard way, but also their civilian technology as well. I am living here in a palace, which is a lot smaller than your majesty's, but is indeed much more luxurious. We have water and light all day without using dwells or torches or lamps. Everything looks magical, but here very few things are magical indeed. Magic is nearly only existing since the Weltensprung, and only because of the help from the Empire. The Germans seem to have adopted the Empire's magical solution generally, with magicians following only one school. But it is not as strict here. One can learn other school spells as well, going above the level such is done in the imperial academies. Indeed basic spells of each school are taught at first before being specialiced on one school.

However, this is still done in infancy steps. Everything, which looks so magical is indeed, as said, of technological advantage. Horseless cars, communication between distant areas and their weapons are only the most obvious examples. There are many more. New sewing techniques, new medicine and some things called hygiene are other examples. Indeed there are so many examples no one can tell within a letter. In any case the Germans could outproduce the whole world if they wished. And the quality of their products is remarkable. Even the dwarves don't have the abilities to produce so good items. And the dwarves openly admit that!

However, this is also the Achilles' heel of the Germans. They have no magic. This is a problem as they are in danger of Chaos intrusions as well as in battle. Several potent magicians might equalize the Germans technology. However, the time limit therefore is closing, as Germany already has hired magicians, mainly from the Empire and is working on that problem. I guess in some years this problem is solved for them.  
>The problem for us is, we simply can't use that. We don't have so many potent magicians as we would need facing all their forces. The more I consider the situation, the more I am the opinion it was a grieveous mistake to go to war with them. Your Majesty´s instinct was right on that. The result is the same. The Germans took the area by force and we got bloody defeats, from the Battle of Isle de Tannenberg to the Second Battle of the Reik. Against the Germans we were defeated. The Nipponese splinter, which is in the process of becoming part of Germany recently, would have been no match for us in the long run, but the German assistance made any attack of us in vain, especially after the Nipponese decided to use German weapons. So we got nothing more than the Germans had proposed at the very beginning and we don't get the help the Germans offered us. If we see, what they are doing in the Empire we lost more.<p>

The question is, why the Germans did not demand more- much more. One answer is, that they had apparantly lost two major wars in their homeworld within the last century. But this is not meaning that Germany was a pushover, as some of the "advisors", which are responsible for the Wasteland disaster, might imagine reading this. The forces needed to defeat Germany were massive. After the latter war, they were departed. Also they had lost great parts of their country. And it seems they have committed great crimes to parts of their population and that of others. And I am not talking about the ususal actions, but an industrialized murdering. That guilt is still determing the German actions by the politicians. Otherwise we would have had no chances against this Germany.

However, this is also the reason for the real danger to our country. I was able to read German and French literature. The French are our counterparts in this other world. Rousseau, Voltaire, Descartes, but also the Germans Luther, Kant, Hegel and many others have dangerous ideas. This tradition, backed up by the guilt feelings of the politicians, mean they have a much different view on the rights of Men (and Elves, Dwarves and so on), as we have. These ideas will shake our fundamental positions. It is not only we need to reform our military. Knights against MG positions or even tanks and airplanes are no longer working. They are only targets for gunnery training without massive magical help.  
>But we have to be aware that these new ideas can lead to more dramatic consequences for our way of life than their army. The Germans will not fight if they do not have to. Many would say the biggest danger is the German way of life with so much sex and the lack of respect. But that's not true. The real danger are the ideas of human rights. That is the real danger.<p>

The question is no longer, if we need to reform, but how far and how fast. If we don't, a time will come and then we will suffer the same fate either like Hag Graef or this French king Louis XVI. The destruction of Hag Graef was very impressing. Our whole army would have needed months to do the same damage the Germans did within a few hours. And we would have suffered many casualities.  
>The Germans did that in a few hours with few losses. They could have even destroyed the whole city, perhaps even more easy than just capturing. But due to the German point of view the slaves had to be liberated. And now we should see our own towns and castles. Few of them are so well defended like Hag Graef was. We don't have better ships than the Druchii, who also lost a complete fleet as well not only at Hag Graef but also one on the way home of the German fleet. And no German ship was damaged at all!<p>

It is obvious we need to get a stronger and much better equipped army and navy to cope with the German threat. Even if the threat of a military attack by Germany is far lower than we generally estimated. While I think that over time the Germans will begin to loose some restraints due to the local circumstances and gobble up some bits and pieces of opportunity, I doubt they will attack first often. (Chaos or other deadly menaces excepted)  
>Especially since for them our world in truly vast. From what I gather, the other world is quite smaller than ours and much more heavily populated. From the Germans view, here is so much open and free land you can take, incorporate and develop, if you wish, that wars for land are totally unnecessary.<br>But if we anger them, we will need an army capable to take them on. Therefore we need a much stronger economy. But that would mean reforms. The knights are no longer useable in fights with Germans in the traditional way. But they still rely on their old way of life, even the serfs do in a way. Our nobles will still be the most important force in a new army, but we will only have a chance in the future if we imitate some of the german ways. We can buy time by regelmenting the contact with Germany and Germans. But that doesn't solve anything. One village already fled to Germany because of several society-related reasons. Others may do that as well. That some will flee is in no way so dramatic. Much more dramatic will be the people, who will stay and fight for their imagined rights.  
>The question is, in how far can we change and how far we should? As said, an attack by Germany without provocation against us is highly unlikely and while they will take in some of our displeased, they will not let in all. So we have time, but we need to use it more wisely than the first contact with Germany.<p>

The biggest danger of the appearance of Germany are not their weapons but their ideas.

Sincères salutations,

Marqui de la Roque,  
>ambassador of Bretonia in the Federal Republic of Germany<p>

**Premiere of the docu-movie "Die Tannenberginsel", Berlin, Germany**

More than a year after the actual events, a documentational movie had been made about an important battle during the war with Bretonnia.

The island of Tannenberg is one of the greatest river islands in the Reik river with about 20 km legth but only up to 4 km width and about 80 km². It was named this way as the biggest hill is full with fir trees. This hill is about 500 m high, higher than any other hill in the region, mostly more than twice as high. Long before the virgin lands east of the Reik got the name Westpreußen, the island was named, indeed a few weeks after the Ereignis by a german scouting team.

Another week later the representants of the Nipponese, Germans and Bretonians had met on the banks of the Reik. It had ended in a turmoil after a good start. And although the Germans had made a last try to prevent a war, King Lioncoeur said, it was too late. And indeed it was. Since Morgiana le Fay had appeared the Knights of the Grail had become more and more annoying. But against such a powerful group even the king did not dare to oppose. However, it might had been also a good possibility...

Soon after, King Lioncoeur gave the order to Morgiana herself to create a beachhead on the eastern bank of the Reik in the northern area of operations. She got 8.000 men to do so. Another group of 20.000 men should make an invasion in the south to get rid of that pesky slant-eyes there. The king would stay in the north, as officially the attack in the south was a feint attack.

Morgiana chose to use Tannenberg island as base for the offensive. She had asked for the Grail Knights as avantgarde and that was granted.

In the early morning light a few days later she led her troops beyond the water. She was able to take the island with ease, as the Germans seemed to retreat without a fight. Soon she established a base for the invasion to come the very next day.

Once again rafts and boats were landing in calm waters under the cover of dense fog. Half of her forces were already on the eastern bank when the enemy was spotted. Several dozen Steam Tanks of unknown type, which looked much more advanced than the usual tanks of the Empire, appeared. Morgiana was warned again not to invade but to retreat. She did laugh to the young German officer, who gave her the warning.  
>"Do you know, who I am?" she asked him.<p>

"Yes, madame." was the answer.

"And yet you have the courage to tell me to retreat?"

"Yes, madame. You don't know us. If you don't retreat, you will lose. At least your army." the lieutenant replied. Angrily she terminated the talks and the German officer retreated as well. _"They don't know me. Now they will learn about my wrath."_ she thought. She gave the order to attack.

250 grail knights on their horses made the famous attack on the German tanks. In the fire of the 120 mm shells and MGs nearly everyone died. Only 6 could evade and retreat.

Morgiana was furious and she was surprised as well. However, she tried to make a flame storm on the Germans, when suddenly rockets and artillery shells from distant artillery positions detonated within her lines. Indeed the Germans fired only with a battery of MLRS and reactivated M109 howitzers on the Bretonians. But it was sufficient.

To find and destroy the enemy artillery she ordered her Pegasi knights to attack them. But soon she was shocked to see them dying. One by one was killed by rockets, artillery or by strange flying machines in the air. And before she could order her damsels to initiate a strike, her position was an inferno. Several Mk. 82 bombs had exploded there. Some Tornado bombers had made strafing runs on the surviving magicians as well. One of the 27 mm shells hit Morgiana's unicorn and she fell into the dirt. She was screaming. Although she wanted to make a fire storm she realized it was too late for that as her own forces were under attack of the Germans. And they were starting to retreat. So instead of attacking the Germans she made a protective shield, which was able to block the German shells.

The remaining forces were retreating to Tannenberg island. Here she felt save and wanted to consider her next steps. But suddenly the German artillery fire commenced again. She had to put up the shield again, but soon after she heard explosions and screams.

Indeed the Germans had used the fog as well and sent soldiers of the KSK to the island. These 100 soldiers were now attacking. And one of them, a sniper, found her. She and her pretty dress were no way to overlook. It might had been a fatal shot, if she did not spot him in the last second. But it was too late. She was hit into the arm and not the chest. She fell and her spell ended. Soon after also artillery shells exploded. Her army fell in panic and retreated to the western bank of the river. As she was unconscious she could give no other order and was rescued by some of her damsels and knights. The Germans did

not follow the Bretonnians, who had lost about 3.500 men, most of them dead.

The battle was over, nearly at least.

Marquis Jean-Luc du Saint-Lac had been ordered to be part of the rear forces of Morgiana le Fay's army. He did not understand why he was selected, but the reason was, that he was ordered to do so only because the king wanted to show he did not want to get rid off the grail knights fighting there.  
>That someone else might die in the process was the price to pay for. And Jean-Luc was expendable. But even before he could go to Tannenberg Island, the battle was over. He was now in panic, as he was part of the army of Morgiana and soon it would be detected, that he had his entire, if small, realm with him, a fact he had tried to keep hidden. And with that the whole reason behind this. Jean-Luc was a patriot, but falling on the battlefield with his wife highly pregnant, did not sit well with him. So knowing what would be the fate of a noble-less fief, he did something he regretted as a true son of Bretonnia, but as one of the bretonnian nobles who took his duties to all under his rule very seriously, Saint-Lac had no choice. He had to flee his homeland.<p>

In this moment his wife kept the calm. She convinced him to act. And indeed he acted. He ordered to man the incoming rafts and transport everyone to the other side. When asked, what he did there by a damsel, he answered he would try to rescue as many as possible from the other side. "The Lady will bless you!" was the answer.

He needed four runs to transport his people to the island using five rafts. After the third run it became strange, that many people were going out but only few would return. A surviving Grail Knight called Hubert de Lionville went to la Fay's tent. There the surviving damsels tried to heal her, so he was not allowed to enter the tent.

He wanted to leave again, when another damsel appeared and said to another, that Isabelle de Lyonnesse had not been reported and was missing. And that she was missing for some days. On the question, from where she was, it was answered, she was from the realm of the Marquis du Saint-Lac.

Lionville was stunned. At once he suspected treachery and ran back to the makeshift harbour. There he could see the Marquis just taking off the last time. It took some moments until he got a crew for another raft. He wanted to catch at least the Marquis.

On Tannenberg Island the group of the Marquis was surrounded by German soldiers. Marie de Saint-Lac was going to explain the situation, when the labour pains started. Stunned the Germans, who were commanded to send all Breton survivors back, ordered a medic at once.

In the meantime it had become a race between the Marquis and Lionville. However, Lionville was going to catch him as he had more and better men to drive the raft. It was hardly 500 m to the beach, but it was clear, that Lionville would arrive before him.

In this moment a big steam ship appeared with a single gun on the front part. "This is the German Schnellboot S 73 Hermelin. We have granted asylum to the Marquis du Saint-Lac. You have entered German territorial waters. Retreat or you will be fired upon!".

For Lionville it was a shock. But he retreated although he was furious. The Marquis and his people were in safety.

On the Bretonian bank of the Reik river Morgiana la Fay awoke. She knew she had lost. She was furious with these Germans, who killed her unicorn. And who attacked her directly. The wound would heal soon. But the psychological wound not so. And all attempts to convince the king to give her more men were negated. He saw better opportunities in the south. "We will capture these Nipponese land and then go further to Berlin." he said. For Morgiana it was not convincing. Was it possible he did not want to win?

In Westpreußen a few weeks later the plannings for the foundation of a new village were made. The name was Nouveau Trois Fontaines or Dreiquellen in German, letting the "new" fall away.

After the movie ended, it was discussed intensively by the audience. Nobody in the big cinema recognized 3 persons who were more than met the eye. The bretonnian ambassador, still a relative unknown face, a reman spy and _Morgana_ le Fay. The sorceress was actually pleased with the events. Neither Bretonnia, the Empire or Germany knew about her long fight with the elven Imposter Morgiana. Everything what weakened Morgiana was good in Morgana´s book. It seemed Germany could become a blind asset for her. Maybe it was time for the old sorceress to learn more about Germany. But the attention of Morgana was always a double-edged sword.

**Office in Stuttgart, University, Stuttgart**

Reinhard Meier was looking at a long, exacting query that had been filled to the last page with in-detail data about Druchii thought, about their phobias, their sexuality and their thoughts about religion.

He was livid with rage. He had set that ungrateful cow up to fail so she would crawl back to him in disgrace and be more malleable. He had been told by reliable friends that the Dark Elves would not talk if it had no direct bearing on their well-being and now she had brought such a wealth of information.  
>A good friend of his from his study days was at Stammheim and had agreed (actually remarkably easily) to give Petra full access to Jasla without supervision. A second interviewer would either have warned the student off - or would be part of the failure, which would have strengthened Petras position - not good.<br>So his "old friends network" had come into play.  
>But this - this was unacceptable. If that woman was going on like this she might gain fame and recognition without him or only when he cooperated closely. He would have to make sure how to call her off.<p>

He tried to reach his friend in Stammheim, only to be told that he was not available. This made him even more frustrated, a very bad thing.  
>He had a high blood pressure for a very long time now and that had led to an aneurism in the big arterial which supplied his lower body with blood. The aneurism was a bulge in the wall of the arterial like a bad inner tube of a bicycle tire about to burst.<p>

So far it had never done but today it became so big it restricted the blood flow to his right kidney. Here a small organ close to the kidney registered the lower blood pressure-and promptly emitted blood-pressure increasing chemicals-which in turn enlarged the aneurism-which decreased blood flow to the arterial.  
>This vicious circle raised the blood pressure from it`s normal (for Reinhard)170100 mm Hg to 310/150 within few minutes. The Aneurism burst then and blood flowed into the body like from a garden hose.  
>Reinhard was dead within 15 seconds and never had a chance to recall anything, not even the police arriving at that exact moment with an arrest warrant.<br>His oxygen-starved brain made him hear a sound like the flapping of mountain sized wings-a hallucination surely...

**Bückeburg, Army Aviation Training Center, 6 Weeks after the battle of Papenburg  
><strong>The landing approach of the "Storch" could have been better to put it mildly-the aircraft wandered about somewhat, the descent angle was adjusted several times and the change in the engine drone spoke of several changes in the power settings.

Still the aircraft set down well within the limits and the potent shock absorbers easily managed the forces imposed upon them. Nathan Alpers stumbled from the plane into the arms of his instructor-and was congratulated mightily. "Well done Nathan, you are no longer a virgin. First solo flight!"  
>Of course somebody was there to shower him with beer and carry him around on their shoulders. Nathan could not remember when he was this proud about anything.<p>

Army aviation had decided that the new "Storch" was so easy to fly and cheap at it that they could use it for initial training as well, saving time and money for transitional training.  
>Nathan was walking on clouds for that day, the only fly in the ointment was when he phoned his parents about it and their reaction was colder then he wished for, they had never understood beyond a intellectual level why he felt the need to join the armed forces.<br>They always thought he was "better" than that, but he had seen that this was a new world and different answers were needed.

**Train to Altdorf, 1st class Coach, 6 weeks after Seeadler Raid**

"Please show your tickets, Ladies and Gentleman". The passengers in the 6 place compartment did indeed produce their tickets and nobody commented on a conductor wearing body armor and a strange looking rifle-they probably felt better for it.  
>The train to Altdorf was currently passing through one of the Empires great forests and these woods indeed might contain monsters. This was his first trip on this train after he had concluded the training for working on the train while keeping watch at the same time, so he still marveled at the passengers and the interior.<p>

The passengers showed a wide mixture of clothing styles, from German business clothing and outdoor wear to the colorful robes of wealthy imperial merchants and the partitial armor worn by imperial officers.  
>The interior or the train was an odd mixture as well. For political reasons it was important that at least some imperial manufactories profited from making the trains. Their tech level was far too low to do anything substantial for the locomotives or the mechanical parts of the carriages, but nothing prevented them from contributing to the internal fittings.<br>This meant that LED bulbs were inside glass and brass lamps, wooden sliding doors with etched glass windows ran on German bearings and leather upholstery with horsehair filling comforted the back sides of the passengers.  
>The walls showed beautifully polished and inlayed wooden panels and the window frames were showed polished brass.<p>

Additionally to helping the imperial industry it created an ambience which was looking modern to the imperial customers but not as overwhelming and Spartan as they viewed the interior of a German ICE train. The aesthetics even appealed to a lot of Germans, even if many thought it to be a little too dark and too detailed.

Making his way along the train Joakim Vos contacted the various members of his squad while at the same time checking tickets and answering passengers questions as well as he could.  
>To his astonishment the train started to slow down in the middle of nowhere. Going to the next intercom he took of the handle and contacted the railroad engineer about the reasons.<p>

"Ah, hallo Joakim, same thing again. Center has a sensor reading that something blocks the rails ahead" The railway always ran a little current through the rails which showed clearly if the rails were broken at some point. It also indicated by cross current if something lay over the rails.

"We halt at the next siding, then the repair train can pass. Nothing to it, just like the last 4 times. Some assholes like to block the railway with trees-we will get them sooner or later." "Martin, are you telling me that we have halted here already 4 times in the last weeks-don`t you think that is not setting us up for ambushes"" Hm, for a new guy you are quite paranoid" "Even paranoids have enemies-we will keep an eye out" "You do that"

Putting the receiver back into the cradle Joakim choose a different station. "Manfred-Joakim here. I do not like to stop at the same place all the time-go man your turret" "Are you sure,that could upset the passengers" "Just do it" "Yessir" A second call made sure that both turrets were manned and alert.  
>In wagons on both ends of the train Landwehr soldiers climbed into turrets that would not have looked out of place on top of a B-17 of old. Holding 2 Machine guns each they had electric drive and elevation but could be moved by hand if necessary. Mechanically simple and electronically dead they were simple enough that imperial soldiers would learn to handle them and perform the minimal service required between depot overhauls. Turning the turrets to make sure that everything worked they looked through the reflex visors the Landwehr soldiers asked themselves what they had done to deserve the hardass Feldwebel who had paranoid tendencies.<p>

Meanwhile Joakim had moved back into the train, rustling up other Landwehr members and asking himself if he had already lost it when the train came to a halt with barely a lurch.  
>His two squadmembers were looking at him expectedly and he was thinking about what to say when the sound of breaking glass and the screams of passengers made all excuses moot. Pumping shells into the chambers of their shotguns they ran towards the fighting.<p>

The stoker in the locomotive was swearing all the time while he put his pistol through the ball-and-socket-mount provided for this purpose in the armored walls of his cab. While it was hard to aim well that way at the short distance it was nearly impossible to miss the robed figures that tried to storm the Locomotive. Through his window he could see that besides the comparatively few assailants that had so suddenly emerged from camouflaged holes directly besides the railroad many more emerged from the treeline which was about 50 meters away.  
>He emptied his magazine quickly by shooting a couple of robed figures which tried to force his door, while the engineer applied reverse power as quickly as he could without hopelessly spinning the driving wheels.<p>

While the train slowly begun to speed in the different direction some assailants managed to climb the tender and the roof of the train. As nobody tried the door to the cab any more the stoker called the Landwehr and a stream of tracer from the forward turret swept the uninvited guests from the train while the aft turret continued to fire on the advancing cultists which emerged from the woods. The twin guns ripped through them, killing enough so that the survivors saw the wisdom in taking cover.

The only remaining problems were the would-be train robbers which already had boarded the wagons behind the cab. This was a problem for others, so the stoker used the wireless set to appraise his dispatcher of the assault.

Joakim Vos stopped at the door to the next wagon, gesturing for one of his soldiers to open the door from the side. In the next wagon some cultists and a huge armored figure attacked the passengers. Most of the attackers wore bulky robes which hid their faces and were armed with long wicked looking daggers they applied to the unarmed passengers with glee all the while screaming phrases nobody understood. They seemed to shy away from the armed passengers.

Their supposed leader was of a different caliber. So huge that his spiky helmet touched the ceiling and muscled like an overblown body builder he wielded an axe that would have been difficult to lift for most men as if it were a hatchet. Two imperial soldiers and a civilian had tried to defend with sword and dagger, but the ferocity of the attackers and numbers told. One soldier was clutching the ruin of his right hand and the civilian was bleeding profusely from a wound in his side.

Joakim stepped forward to get an unobstructed line of fire and rapidly shot his opponents. He was good enough that by the time his first ejected shell hit the ground his third shot connected with it`s intended target.  
>The Warrior with the axe was the priority target. He was so close to Joakim that the balls of the shot had not dispersed much and hit like a solid mass. The charge contained 9 balls, all with roughly the same energy than a 7,65mm pistol round. The first hit practically ripped the right arms off at the Bizeps, sending the axe flying to the side. The second converted the proud chest of the aspiring Champion into an ugly anatomy lesson, his henchmen needed even less persuasion to die.<p>

One of the Cultists managed to flee to the next compartment and before the Landwehr caught up with him had grabbed a female passenger. Holding her with one arm and putting his dagger against her neck with the other he used her as a shied. His screaming was still shrill but more discernible now. "Come any closer and I kill her-I swear I will. You have to let me go or will kill her. You have to believe me, I will cut off her head."

The Landwehr Feldwebel said nothing while he thumbed another round from his vest into the shotgun while never losing sight of his quarry, even when he ratcheted the last round into the chamber . "What are you doing, you have to move back or I will cut her, you have to believe me…" The shot cut off the tirade effectively, the cultist, obviously not experienced with modern firearms, had exposed his head too much. Joakim had aimed for the Medulla oblongata inside the cultists head.  
>This apricot-sized part of the brain conveys all conscious efforts from brain to body and controls highly important autochonic reflexes, so its destruction meant that the assailant was dead before his knees bend.<p>

Joakim needed not be that careful with the shot placement. He had loaded a solid "Brennecke" round into his shotgun. While normally not very accurate compared to a rifle round it was more than sufficient at 3 meters. The 19.5 mm solid lead slug dumped so much energy into the targets head that it splattered everybody with bone, blood and brains.  
>The shot in a closed room made everybody's ears in the room ring, but the two Landwehr men would swear for years that they heard Joakim "I believe you asshole, I truly do"<br>The Feldwebel would always deny it. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Boostedt close to Neumünster, 7 weeks after the Seeadler Raid**

Ulrich Stoiber was as happy as he could be while wearing clothes-this was a place he did not expect to see again, at least in this way.  
>When Germany`s army started to enlarge it became obvious that more bases were needed. North Germany had seen already two battles so it was natural that some of them would have to be there. The fact that it was still federal property, being close to major roads and rail and surviving infrastructure all made sure that the barracks at Boostedt were reopened. For once pushing a round peg through a round hole the Bundeswehr named the new tank unit-which was supposed to become battalion sized-the 183th Battalion for the unit that had been stationed there before the base was closed and the battalion was disbanded.<p>

The Tank school had given back the old unit colors-a yellow tank over a leaf on a blue shield, and facsimiles of that had been liberally applied in the new and old part of the Barracks.  
>When Ulrich had reenlisted he had been sucked in the organizational maelstrom that was the Hag Graef Raid, but he had been promised a posting with the 183th when it became operational. To his surprise the Army actually kept their promise.<br>He had received some leave after the raid and had arrived at his new posting 2 weeks before. Now was a special day: The first tanks had arrived in Boostedt.

He was currently walking around the Leo2A8 that had yet to be unloaded from the "Elefant" transporter and tried to spot the changes that he had been told about.  
>When he first heard about their new tanks he had been more than a little skeptical but only practice would show if he was wrong or not. During the decades after the Cold War Germany had reduced it`s great tank force from more than 2000 to an approved 250 or so. Many of the "surplus" tanks had been sold, but many others had been too much used up to be sold quickly.<br>Kraus-Maffay had combed the depots and had found more than a 100 Tanks which were worthy of a rebuild while the Army figured out how their new tank were to look like.

The new tank had started as an A4 model and still sported the older L/44 gun, not the newer L/55 which had a third more power. Ulrich had problems to envision any target in this bright new world where this would make any difference and the shorter cannon made the tank more maneuverable in many circumstances.  
>There was still a discussion about the best ammo loadout, but one thing was obvious already-the sabot-clad fin stabilized subcaliber darts (APFSDS) which had made up the largest part of the Leo`s ammo before would mostly disappear.<p>

The totally clapped out engines had been the reason why nobody had picked these tanks before and replacements were hard to find. The old 1500 hp engines had therefore be replaced by brand new 1850 hp ones which were also much smaller, allowing for nearly 1000 additional liters of diesel fuel.  
>A dozer blade had been added to the tank in order to improve performance in difficult terrain.<p>

The original armor was still in place-that was not a problem as it had more than enough strength for the Warhammer battlefields, but each side of the turret showed a metal plate showing a rune-for magical protection. Some dwarf clan was exchanging their work for high-grade steels and lathes.  
>On top of the turret the old commander`s machine gun was replaced with a remotely controlled weapons station. An additional machine gun and a 40 mm grenade launcher were sure to add anti-infantry firepower.<p>

At the end of the turret a new armored container housed the latest addition to the Leos capabilities: A small, electrically driven drone housing a remarkably good camera. Having enough "juice" for 20 minutes of flying it was a good way to spot problems and chances without exposing the tank too much. A small company in Lübeck was making these and they were quickly becoming a fixture in Bundeswehr units.

Even harder to spot were several small cameras which were placed at various nooks around the tank to give good allaround vision to the tank commander.

They would hope fully keep the accompanying infantry to convert to patty mode when backing up.

He was so looking forward to give the Eisenschwein (Iron Pig) a spin.

**Destroyer "Lütjens", on the Great Sea**

Captain Ingo Steuerlein leaned against the bridge wing, his thoughts on a voyage on their own. His ship and the convoy it was protecting were on the way back to Germany, the radar was clear to max range, so a slight relaxation was possible.  
><em>"Old fashioned, but functionable!"<em> was the thought Ingo had, looking over the convoy. In 2011 the Lütjens had been sold to be broken down, her time over. But before the ship travelled to Turkey on her last voyage, the Weltensprung had happened. Today Germany needed every military naval vessel, so the ship had been recommisioned.  
><em>Lütjens<em> was old, but here on this world a really tough nut. Reliability was the code word for everything now, fancy frills came second. The whole operation stood under that imperative. Unlike at home, here the freighters most often did not anchor in the harbours, them being too big, no, like the sail age gone by, the ships anchored off shore, the goods delivered by boats and rafts.

And quite often at that. Outside of one, two handfuls of big nations, the settlements, even the nations, were rather small from a modern standpoint. So the mass of trade goods per settlement was not that high. To fill the holds, Convoy 35 had travelled a circuit of a full sixty stops, grazing a strip along the Southlands coast.  
>But before he could spint the thoughts further, a voice brought Steuerlein back at once.<p>

"Contact, Green 22, max radar range, CBDR. Signal strength hints at a metal vessel. Shall we ping him, Sir?"

"Wireless?"

"Silent and no answer to our hails."

"Try it again and ping him. Alert level 2, something smells fishy here! Civilian vessels shall give 4 degrees to port."

"Jawohl, Herr Kapitän!"

"Definitely a steel ship, Sir! Close to a small island. Nothing on the airwaves except us."

"Mist! Verdammter! Tell Captain Wunderlich he has control over the convoy for the next hours. We will investigate that strange ship."

"Aye!"

During the approach the rumours and assumptions on Lütjens steadily rose. Who or what could it be? Condition 1 had been set. Missiles and cannons pointed at the bogey, when visual range was reached. Everyone above "armed" with binocs searched the horizon.

"Got it! Hmm ... old design. Who still builds something like that?"

Steuerlein turned his binoculars to the indicated position. He looked... and let his optics sink down in surprise. For the first and only time in his life Ingo Steuerlein really hoped that nobody on the other vessel was alive. Because that would have ramifications above any problems Germany or the native nations already had.  
>In his brain the equally famous and infamous name repeated in a loop: <em>SS Waratah<em>

**Porsche stem factory, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany**

Ingrid Schrödinger, like her teammates, sat in front of the various monitors, following the simulations there. While one might think this design team worked on a new sports car, nothing could be further away. Decades of making top sport automobiles linked the firm forever with these vehicles, but in the early days under congenial founder Ferdinand Porsche, the corporation built vehicles of all kinds. Even Panzer.  
>Ingrid and her team had the honour to be the first Porsche team after seven decades to construct a Tank again. AVFs like the new Leo2A8 or the re-activatiuon of the Gepard Flak tanks were good ideas and useful, but stopgaps in the end. Unsurprisingly, the Bundeswehr began to task the various firms in Germany with the development of new weapon systems.<br>In the case of the successor for the Leopard 2 tank after the showing of the first project studies, two competititors were left: Kraus-Maffei-Wegmann and surprising many, the Porsche project.

The design estimates to be reached given by the Bundeswehr were hard. Not only should the, tentatively named, Leopard 3 be a vehicle for the Warhammer battlefields, it should safeguard technological knowledge and being useable on Earth as well. Not an easy to reach target.  
>But the studies of both firms had much promise. Kraus-Maffei had a well earned name in tank building already and their prototype showed the expertise gone into it. It was an obvious evolution from the excellent Leo2 design and promised to be the tough nut the Bundeswehr wanted for the tank corps.<br>Porsche´s design was different and showed that it´s parent was a high-tech vehicle smithery. Despite still compact measurements it was a rolling castle. Immensely hard and with heavy firepower on fast tracks, in fighting capabilities it surpassed the other prototype. The flaws in all this was the possibility of overengineering and mainly the price.  
>Ingrid´s orders now were to weed out last bugs, making the design simpler to maintain and shave off the endprice. As one could imagine, this was easier said than done.<p>

**Unnamed Island, Southlands Coast**  
>The sailors of the Lütjens were swarming over the Waratah, investigating every nook and cranny. The Weltensprung had deposited the ship fully on the beach of one of the many medium and small islands before the Southlands shores.<br>And rather early it became clear that the old steamer had not been hit what spirited Germany to this world. Time and weather had nibbled quite a bit. It seemed that the ship had been here for the century it was gone from Earth. Luckily for the searchers a log had been found in the Captain´s cabin. It was obvious that Captain Ilbery left it intentionally there for a possible search team to find.  
>Captain Steuerlein was busy reading the entries after the brittle book had been taken apart and the pages carefully placed in plastic sheets to stop further degradation. The first entries confirmed what the people on Earth assumed about the fate of the Waratah. The ship was on her course to Cape Town, when the heavy storm, so many ships there reported on back in 1909, came up. The ship fought through the battering gales and waves, when suddenly among the lightnings the Waratah was bathed in a rainbow coloured light. At first, crew and passengers believed an unusual hit by a lightning, but there was no damage by it.<br>_My God, they never found out that this is another world!_ thought Steuerlein after reading more entries. Directly after the light, a enormous lurch went through the Waratah, when the ship beached itself. Owning to the adverse weather conditions and being close to the South African coast when hit, the people onboard believed that the storm beached them on one of the islands off South Africa. Crew and passengers waited a month for rescuers, the ship having enough food and water. Then Captain Ilbery, thought to finally having pinpointed the position, decided to set over to the mainland and trek to the next settlement. He left the book with his planned route in his cabin to find. Then crew and passengers lowered the boats, went to the mainland and packed with a lot of provisions, began to travel to a settlement which was not there.

The crew of Lütjens had found the remains of the boats on the nearest coast of the continent. Steuerlein and his crew hoped that the survivors of the Waratah found a place to live, but knowing the world they were now on... Still, the people of Waratah could have been lucky for once. After rejoining the convoy, Captain Steuerlein called Berlin and told them their find. The mystery of the Waratah was now partly solved and the fact that the ship still was on the Warhammer world indicated that baring a wonder, a trip to WH was probably a one way trip.

**Office of the Chancellor, Berlin, Germany**

It was an unusual meeting in the chancellory. The leaders of all halfway "normal" political parties and several important NGOs met with Angela Merkel. The theme was very earnest. With the find of the Waratah two things were clear: First, a constant return to home was close to impossible and second, the plannings had to keep in line with a possible arrival of even more advanced people in the future. So Germany had to plan for the future and more, now was the time for some serious reforms on all levels. Not at once, but step by step. Reforms of the armed Forces, reforms of the federal states, reforms of the industry and agriculture werr just the important ones.  
>For this, Angela Merkel wised for a broad basis, a general consensus in most cases to make fluent transitition. There was grumbling and joy, paranoia and looking forward, but with few exceptions a general line of actions was reached. Together with national elections, several reforms would be voted about by referenda. And while some refom proposals had the support of even political enemies, there were controversial ideas which would be decided after the elections by who would win them.<p>

**Bargteheide, North of Hamburg, 8 weeks after Seeadler Raid**

The back room of the restaurant was in far worse shape than the more sumptuous one in Hemmingen, the talks less airy and the participants more tired-they had been at it far longer. Everybody was looking at everybody else to see what were to happen next-who would be the first to move and to declare what was forbidden.

Claus Tolles viewed them in a detachedly, to him they were self-propelled pieces on a chess board with capabilities and weaknesses to be used as needed. Their personal opinion about him did not matter at all, but the risk to himself and losing his chance at greatness if he started wrongly did. Still, this was obviously the moment, so ready or not he had to make his move.

Standing up and walking to the top of the tables in a deliberate manner he felt all eyes on him. Rapping the table to silence the few murmurs still to be heard he went at it.  
>"Gentlemen –and Lady-lets cut the chatter and get to the real reason why we all are here presently. None of us is happy with Germany and her place in this world at present. Many of us have lets say "special needs" which would not meet the understanding of our fellow Germans if they were to come to more attention.<br>And while together I think we have assembled a group of interesting talents and capabilities we can surely agree that we cannot change the fate or structure of Germany so much that it would fit our needs.

We have trained soldiers here, engineers and scientists; we have sources for serious weapons, some industrial machinery and transport. Still, if we would try to change Germany itself to our liking we would bloodily fail.  
>So what is the use of this meeting then if we cannot change the things that we cannot? Simply, if we cannot change things to our liking inside of Germany, we have to step outside. Outside Germany we are suddenly a major force which we can use to further our aims without all the restraints that our do-gooder fellows want to apply to us all.<p>

If we want, we can form a heavy weapons platoon from our ranks easily, even quip them well. As such we could turn any battle we take part in favor of potential employers. We could also raise indigene troops and offer potential employers help with their technological development.

And by doing all that we should gain riches and influence enough to give each of us what their heart's desire. We even might go a step further-we would not be the first mercenaries that take over their former employer. I say mercenaries because this is what I propose us to be: Techno-mercenaries in a world full of ignorant barbarians."

The silence that greeted him was as loud as any sound he had ever heard. Shit-had he miscalculated after all-were these people not what he was looking for?  
>The catcall came from the back rows: "Better to be a big fish in a small pond, eh?" "Damn right it is, at least for me-but how about you? What do you want-fight and work for your dreams-to reach what you desire or to dream sterile dreams the rest of your dearly lives? What is it going to be?"<p>

There was the silence again getting heavier by the second and the sinking feeling got worse with each heartbeat. Then an anonymous hand started rapping on the table, quickly followed by others, then turning into shouts of agreements.  
>They all mingled into a roar in his ears which drowned all other sounds-except for something which sounded like the flapping of enormous wings-but that was surely an accustic illusion.<p>

It took him a while to get control of the meeting back, but the mood of it had changed as the barrier everybody had feared to break had been eradicated-the feeling of possible accomplishment filled the room.

"From my talks to you I have an overview what each of you can contribute-we should divide ourselves into a "military" and a "science" group and look for what we can do. We also should…."

"Aren`t you forgetting something Herr Tolles?" The voice which had so unexpectedly stopped him was female, one of the few in the crowd. "And what might that be, Frau…Heim."

"You have no indigene scouts, nobody who can show you the ins and outs of the local power structures, especially so far from Germany as we will have to go to escape the Fatherlands attention. And even worse-we have no magic support at all, and that would cost us."  
>Claus Tolles could see the skeptical look returning to many faces and even despair in some of them now that their fond hope was about to be taken away again.<br>"And can you propose a solution to this deficiency, or can you just naysay?"  
>" I may have a solution for us, but it will be difficult, and possibly dangerous..."<br>"You don`t say-please explain"

**Railway to Altdorf, 8 Weeks after Seeadler Raid**

Ralf Winkler listened to the slightly asynchronous sound of the 3-cylinder compound engine which pulled the train to Altdorf. It was music to his ears as would be the sound of a good motorcycle engine or a hot car.

The Class 05 engine that pulled this particular train had a distinctive sound-and impressive performance-which was as it should be as this was the first official trip of the new locomotive and the special train made as the gouvernment train for th empire.

He had marveled at the interior of the train which was VERY nicely appointed-even better than the 1st class of then standard trains running this route. The Emperor and Germany`s government had decided that the first official trip of this train should be special-and what could be more special than bringing the slaves liberated from the Hag Graef Raid back to the Empire.

Currently he was sitting in a car probably meant for functionaries accompanying the emperor in future. He liked the aesthetics of these cars a lot-they combined the old-world craftsmanship shown in many details with the comforts of a high-tech society.

He took it as a symbol of the great opportunities which were to be had in this new world. So far Germany had to work hard at just keeping what capabilities it had-often having to cut back at least temporarily. The battles fought within a little more than a year demonstrated that this was a far less peaceful world and that there was probably a great more bloodshed to come.  
>But here, in this train, he could see what could be done-the fusion of magic, craftsmanship and technology, the opportunity to discover new lands, the chance to subdue monstrous evils the future could be great if they could grasp it.<p>

"One last job" he had been told – and it had been meant as a Bonus, that was obvious. He had a group of 20 ex-slaves to look after until they reached Altdorf where they would be discharged. There he could have 2 weeks of R&R if he wanted it-as travel to foreign countries had become rare, more dangerous and difficult he had taken the offer in a second and his wife would follow in a few days.  
>Many of the other medics and soldiers which had been drafted into the Hag Graef raid had been offered this trip-and most had taken the offer immediately.<p>

He was slightly dubious that the Dark Elves former captives were send out well prepared but from his conversation to the former slaves he heard that they were marveling at the riches bestowed on them. He had probably underestimated how poor most citizens of the Empire really were-they had actually received quite a bounty by their standards.  
>Some good clothing, including boots, medical help and even a couple of hundred Euros each were estimated by them to be much more than they needed for a restart of their lives in the Empire.<p>

His group still cycled between looking at their luxurious surroundings and scanning the landscape which magically rolled by them. If any had known this area before he would have seen a huge change-the empire had cut back the forest at least 100 meters to both sides of the railway for security reasons and this country was covered by lots of newly found farms.

One feature captured the attention of many passengers so Ralf took a look as well. When the ex-slaves turned to him for explanation he was able to help. "That was one of the new "Lanz Bulldog", they are made again. They are like the tractors some of you may have seen in Germany. They are not as strong or comfortable, but there are very few things about them a village blacksmith cannot repair. They are actually mechanically simpler than a steam engine: One cylinder, 10 liters cubic capacity, no gear box and will burn anything flammable which is liquid.

This close to the railways the farmers have easy access to fuel and spare parts and the "Lanz" can still do the work of several horses-so a single farmer can work a much bigger farm.  
>"I hear that a lot of the new communities around here are organized around "Raiffeisen" cooperatives-as far as I can see no nobles in sight. These areas are rapidly getting stronger economically as they have bigger markets for their produce and better access to technology-I guess this could shift power inside the Empire."<p>

The info from the medic made for thoughtful looks on many faces of his charges. The medic would not have been surprised if a lot of them planned to settle in these areas.  
>Getting to the Altdorf railway station took another two hours and the train slowed down considerably so the masses of humanity cheering the train on had a chance to look at it. Ralf harbored the suspicion that at least half of the enthusiasm was due to the new train: the railway virus in the empire was that bad.<p>

Still, the train went into the station after what seemed to be an eternity and he moved forward to organize disembarking. He just had a short look at the stand erected inside the railway station and the musicians arrayed in front of it.  
>He had seen the personal colors of Emperor Franz on the stand-he was not sure if the monarch would actually greet the homecoming ex-slaves.<br>He heard the music that was played when the train came to a stop but took his time to identify it-the cheering of the crowd and unfamiliar instruments conspired to mask it. Finally understanding hit him:

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit  
>für das deutsche Vaterland!<br>Danach lasst uns alle streben  
>brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!<br>Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit  
>sind des Glückes Unterpfand:<br>|: Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,  
>blühe, deutsches Vaterland! :|<br>Unity, Justice and Freedom  
>for the German Fatherland.<br>Let's all strive towards this Purpose  
>Brotherly, with Heart and Hand.<br>Unity, Justice and Freedom  
>are the Promise of Happiness.<br>Flourish in this Blessing's Glory,  
>Flourish, German Fatherland<p>

A pretty good day to be a German after all, but there were still things to do before he enjoyed himself too much.

**Altdorf, the Empire, 8 weeks after Seeadler Raid **

Ralf Winkler left the Tavern he had been assigned to, making sure that the small package in his pocket was not visible. While the sale he planned was technically not illegal here the German government would have frowned upon it. The very least they would have insistent on would be a right for first buy and they would have paid a pittance.  
>He wanted to show his wife a really good time in Altdorf and that meant some "play money". While the Winklers were not exactly poor they did not have the means to waste serious money on a "once in a lifetime" trip even if they would have loved to.<p>

Luckily Ralf had one item that should bring more than a little money in Altdorf. Discrete enquiries in the Internet about possible buyers had given him first hints, a few questions in another Tavern had given him more.  
>As his questions had caught attention it had not been too long before he was approached by an imperial he could not directly place but who had more than hinted at an willingness to buy.<br>Today he wanted to close the deal, so he had left the Tavern "for sightseeing", leaving a note in his personal belongings where he went, just in case.

After leaving the Inn behind be begun to double back on his way, changing roads at random.  
>While his amateur attempt at countersurveilance was more salve for his mind than actually useful it was purposeless as nobody followed him. It did serve to confuse him so much that he lost his way in the warren that made up Altdorf`s roads that he had to pay a street urchin some cooper coins to lead him close to his intended target.<p>

The back alley he walked down was gloomy even in in broad daylight as the high houses and the narrow way conspired to keep light out. Stinking pots for waste and "night soil" showed the bad parts of the medieval city.  
>Counting doors he arrived at the one which had been described to him. Knocking the sign he had been he was rewarded by a quick opening of the heavy door and a wordless summons. He was led via storerooms into more sumptuous corridors past rooms full of stone faced men bend over desks writing intelligible things while whispering to themselves.<p>

Arriving in front of another door his way was barred by two footman who did a check on hidden weapons before he was ushered into the inner sanctum.  
>The man greeting him was fat and clad in colorful clothing. Moving his many chins he greeted his visitor and bade him into the chair in front of his desk.<br>"So Herr Winkler, I was told from reliable sources that you would be willing to sell something …unusual but useful to my house, something that needs to be sold discretely."  
>"Minher Klement, I have been told you could require what I might have on order. Let` s cut to the case here and not to waste too many words: From what I hear many of your competitors already acquired such devices while your house so far has to do without. This is your chance to get your edge back."<br>His counterpart refrained from any comment when he unwrapped the package he had brought, but could not help himself but bend forward to look at the item on display before him.

"Here is what you so rightly desire: A FX-81 calculator with solar power. It will do any calculation you may require of it as fast as you can input the numbers and will supply flawless results every time. It is powered by light so you will never have to acquire expensive batteries.  
>It will serve the house of Laurenz and Clement well, making tabulating sums and balancing your sheets much easier and will reduce the man-hours of costly calculators.<br>I will sell you the device and instructions in how to use for the paltry sum of 100 Gold pieces."

Klement`s face went from pasty white to red in a second "You are a thief, I could get a similar device for just 20…..  
>30 Minutes and lots of screaming, threats to leave and general tomfoolery later they settled for 50 pieces, a cost free visit to Clemens tailor and the use for his barge for a weekend for the calculator, the instruction and an introduction into the new double entry bookkeeping.<br>Both were sure to have robbed the other blind, which was the sign of a successful negotiation.

**Bremen, Germany, same date**

The flames which erupted from the test stand went up for more than 30 meters and the roar of the violent combustion shook the ground and even far off buildings.  
>The onlookers were frozen for a few seconds and then started to applaud enthusiastically. DASA had successfully built a new Viking IVb rocket engine as it had been used in the Ariane 4 of the precdecessors of DASA had made them before, but it had been a challenge to assemble a team and find the right materials and tools to produce them.<p>

While not as efficient as newer engines which used cryogenic fuel they used storable liquids which meant they were useful for the upcoming satellite launching program but also for more military applications.  
>Together with the test of a humungous solid fuel booster last week they had just gone a huge step towards building a German space program.<p>

**Cave below Hag Graef, same night**

The Dark Elf mage checked again that that the clamp held the head of the Hung prisoner was indeed fastened tight before he applied the saw to the brow. He was neither distracted by the grunts of the victim nor the blood which flowed copiously. An aide would cauterize the major blood vessels-it would not do for the prisoner to die too quickly.

Removing the cranium and setting it aside for further use he used a scalpel to remove the dura mater and had a look into the brain itself. While the influence of Chaos could be seen in details the brain was still "standard" enough to allow for the intended procedure.

Canting phrases which seemed not to fit a human or Elf tongue he pushed several silver needles into the brain centers which were associated with sight,hearing and speech. The needles showed coldly glowing inlays when they were placed right while the Hung lost what little intelligence and speech he still had. When the final phrase was uttered and the last instrument placed a jolt went through the head of the prisoner and the temperature inside the cave dropped markedly.  
>The priest removed the gag which had silenced the prisoner so far quickly.<p>

The eyes started to glow slightly and a hoarse voice filled the room "Malus Darkblade, my favorite general. Interesting to see you still alive and in this place. Is it possible that you have your problems still in grasp?" The voice was just a pale shadow of the real presence of its owner as it was filtered through all too mortal means, but still it spoke of depths of hatred and control which were unfathomable by beings which were less old and powerful than him.

"Yes my Lord, I have. The Hung tried to take advantage of the damage caused by the treacherous German slave raid but were too hasty and lacked preparations. We managed to ambush them some distance from Hag Graef and devastated one of their hordes.  
>We made a goodly amount of prisoners and killed what we could not use. Our own losses were…acceptable."<br>"Yes, your losses were low for such a battle. Still it seems remarkable that so many of those lost were from those factions most likely to oppose you."  
>"No trap would be complete without some bait my Lord. It seemed prudent to kill two birds with one stone here."<p>

"Yes, indeed. This shows me why I should still be talking to you. But now tell me more of that "slave raid". We need to know more about the threat the Germans pose-and you saw it first-hand. So tell me, what makes them so dangerous?"

"Where to start my Lord? We do not know everything and yet so much. Let me start at the individual German soldier. When we corner them in hand-to-hand combat they are not especially dangerous. Some have bayonets on their rifles, but a good spearman can overcome them. The problem is getting into that range as the German can fire up to 20 aimed shots per minute no matter whether he lies prone or stands in cover. And he is the least dangerous part of the German army.  
>They have rifles which shoot hundreds of rounds per minute, missile launchers which can kill even the largest War Beast and small cannon which shoot grenades by the dozen. It does no matter how much Druchii attack them, over open ground we will lose as long as they can shoot.<p>

Their ships have cannon which have a range of at least 20 miles-they never entered the harbor and some of their shells hit the temple of Khaine on the far side of the city. They seem to be able to shoot up to 10 times a minute.  
>They have small, self-propelled armored chariots which withstand everything we can throw at them and have weapons which kill even Demonettes by carload lots.<br>Their flying machines have incredible speed and firepower and some of them can put their soldiers and chariots wherever they please.  
>What is less obvious is that they seem to react with great speed-from what we hear from other sources they can talk over distances whenever they want-a big advantage if there ever was one."<p>

"I see. I do not think it is wise to engage the Germans any time soon-we have to learn more about them. Now about you and your wretched City… I have asked the other Lords to keep of you for the present-we can no longer afford that internal bickering. It is no use to do the Germans work for them. Before that it was good to be able to measure our strength against ourselves when there were so few worthy enemies, but now the situation has….changed.  
>You still need to provide troops later for the Invasion of Ulthuan, I will try to hire mercenaries to keep the Hung occupied..."<br>"Thank you my Lord."  
>"Do not thank me, you will pay in some way, sooner or later." <p>


	18. Chapter 18

**Excercise Range** **Munster, Germany**

Hyazinth von Strachwitz still sat in his Panzer even after the other crew left in high spirits. _Es hat geklappt. It functioned! God be blessed!_  
>The mock battle he and his unit had been in was concluded victorious for their side. In a way, it helped Hyazinth that his direct comrades were new conscripts or still young soldiers, since he carried the weight of history on his shoulders. For now only a handful of his men and women knew of his famous ancestor who shared his name. It would not stay so, but until then he hoped to have gained reputation for himself. Being a descendant of one of the best Tank commanders of all times was equally a honour and a curse.<p>

**Castle Nanstein, Landstuhl, Germany**

At this early time of the day, no other visitors were strolling the Castle grounds, which had been the reason for the 3 persons viewing down the Castle hill to chose this place for their talk. Günter Koch was still reeling from the words the two imperial wizards, one man, one woman, had spoken to him. He was one of the Warhammer fans or now experts working for the federal government, no less, no more. While Günter was positively surprised that his potential magical talent was above the norm, the rest horrified him.  
>"Seeress Edita, Master Rainald, I am truly honoured that you came all the way to find the person who plays such an important role in one of your prophecies and to know that magic burns a bit brighter in me than most can be a blessing, but about all the other stuff, I am just an average citizen, like million others..."<p>

"I see that your modesty is honest, which is actually one sign that you ARE the person we search for, but you underestimate yourself a lot, Günter. That you take the right way is not only important for you or us, no, it is even more important for the whole old world."

"But you said it might even be one of my descendents, well, at least that tells me I will have children, because the training regime I steer to is less than amiable..."

"Good, you accept the truth. It is important that you do it, because if you fail... millions will pay for it." Master Rainald, one of the ruling council of the Amethyst Order made the slit throat gesture.

Günter groaned. "Great, I am still at the start and you load up on the expectations."

The two imperial wizards laughed. "We know this cannot be easy for you, but I think you will surprise yourself. We did not go overboard when we said that you have a great talent for magic. What you will learn is much more than most. In a way we are envious, but..."

"I know what you want to say: As thanks for saving their behinds from Chaos, I will get to be a pariah in more than one place."

"Unfortunately, yes, but both our governments know and there will be many who will be thankful. Here in Germany it will not be that much of a problem, at least initially, but in the Empire... His highness, the Emperor, saw it fit that you get an excemption for the Empire. You will soon get a special document, which wil grant you a lot of leeway.  
>But to be truthful: in regions with contact with your nation, it will help greatly, I cannot guarantee for a Hintertupfing with an overzealous with hunter there. Still, most witch hunters will acept it. If not... it can become <em>interesting<em>."

"_Interesting_, yes, I can see that. Magic has still a way to go in the popular opinions, isn´t it? Understandably in many cases, but still..."

**Great Forest, Castle Wolfenfels, 9 weeks after Seeadler Raid **

Ernst Herrmann tried to recall all the do`s and don`ts about the locals that had been drummed into him while he made his way down the aisle that lead to the throne of the castles main assembly room. He vividly remembered the words of his superiors "you got only one chance to blow the first impression"

- Keep your sight fixed on a point slightly below the Barons Face  
>- Don`t walk too quickly<br>- Do not look at the functionaries or attendants to the side  
>- Keep you left hand on the dress sword, otherwise it will foul your step and make you look like an idiot<p>

Especially the latter point made the Lieutenant feel like a fool surrounded by fools-why would these bumpkins not take any soldiers seriously without a sword, which led to the next point on the list

- Do not think your hosts as bumpkins. If you do that they will hand you your head and the mission will fail

He managed his way to before the throne without mishap, executed the bow within acceptable limits and upon being asked to rise introduced himself.  
>"Mighty Baron Heinrich, thank you for welcoming us on such short notice. I am Lieutenant Ernst Hermann of the German armed forces and bring with me the 4th Platoon of the KSK.<br>I bring you the greetings of my government as well as those of Prince Boris Wüterich. At their behest we are to help you with the defense of the ways from Altdorf to Middenland through your estates.  
>Allow me to present to you the letter of introduction by Price Boris.<p>

Pushing forward the roll of parchment covered with cords and seals it was taken by a slim young man who deftly opened it and wordlessly checked the results. Turning around he confirmed the contents with a curt nod before stepping back into his place.  
>The Baron was huge in every way, a grey giant with a full beard and thinning hair, fleshly jowls and a huge belly, wide shoulders and enormous arms.<p>

His voice fit to the figure, a deep groveling brass slightly hoarse from shouting too many commands.  
>"Welcome to Castle Wolfenfels fellow warriors. It is good that our plight in defense of the way is recognized and reinforcements send. You are my guests now as long as you wish it to be so. My Seneshall will show you your quarters and will provide to your needs.<br>I suggest that we meet in 2 hours' time in a smaller circle to discuss the details of your stay."  
>"I am honored by being your Guest highness. By your leave?"<p>

Later in the evening the Lieutenant carefully nursed the offered ale and ate the bread and cheese that accompanied while he sat in what in modern societies would be called the Barons office.  
>"Lieutenant Hermann, do not get me wrong, you are most welcome here. But tell me two things if you may: Why has Prince Boris and your government this sudden interest in this Barony which normally is just conveniently forgotten as long as we keep the Road clear and the Beastmen in check?<br>And-if you show me sufficient reason for this interest-how can you materially help us with just 8 men at your disposal. Even out here at the ass end of nowhere we have heard of you Germans and of your mighty weapons, but from what could see you mostly have brought your rifles.  
>Are these so mighty that you can stop a beastmen assault all by yourself with them? "<p>

"Your highness, please allow me to answer the second question first. If we come to an agreement, then transport will arrive which will bring some heavy weapons for my team and enough modern repeating rifles for a company of rifleman. My Sergeant Blaskovics is a gifted instructor and can turn your footmen into riflemen in three months or so.  
>Or your knights we have submachine guns which they can use from horseback with ease, giving them some long range firepower.<br>We will also be here to act as spotters for planes and our heavy artillery if a big battle ensues in or near your Barony.  
>With our heavy weapons, a company of rifleman and air support we can, indeed, stop a very big beastmen incursion."<p>

"As to your first question: I could tell you that the generations of selfless service by your family have been noted and are rewarded, but that would insult your intelligence. You may have heard that a railroad is built from Altdorf to Middenheim. And as this railroad follows the old roads closely it will go right through your barony. Your barony is an area with lots of beastman attacks which I do not have to tell you, and we have to make sure that during construction and afterwards nothing untoward happens.

Also my country has no beastman problem-yet. Sooner or later some of them will come to Germany and then we have to know how to deal with them. Here we can learn.  
>Presently a lot of barons like you are getting German visitors and we try to offer our help at the same time as we gather information."<p>

If the Baron was surprised at any of this he hid it well. Some of this surely had to be new, but bushy beard and long experience as a ruler made sure not much of that showed.  
>"Submachineguns for my cavalry? I am not sure how they will take that, most regard the pistolcorps as next to useless and are proud to have left it behind.<br>Be that as it may I can accept that you can add to our armed might, but still do not understand what is all that alarm about this railroad. We have heard some things about it, but mostly it seems hard to believe or outragous lies."

"I cannot attest to what you have heard or not, but the railroad is what we call a game changer. The railroad from Altdorf to Nuln which is already finished needs 12 hours to make the distance. Any of these trains can transport as much as 15,000 horses and we run several trains a day over this distance. When the railroad is completed here it could bring 10,000 soldiers from Altdorf in two days AND the bring the suppliers needed by them as long as they are here without the need of foraging from your farmers by them.  
>You can bring the goods from your barony to the markets within days and have much better access to the goods from the Empire or even Germany."<p>

The Baron took his time about his comments. "My farmers will like the ability to sell their produce and my daughter will love to be able to buy her books much more easily. If I will always be so happy about the princes ability to park an army in my backyard on short notice-I do not know. But I do know that I will have no choice here.  
>Be that as it may, I am happy to have you and you men here. We will have a dinner this night were I can introduce you to everybody important and where you can regale us with news from far off countries. Tell me, is it really true that your city soldiers beat off a Raid by the damn Druchi and that your navy sunk the Norses ships without a single loss…<p>

**Altdorf, 2 days later**

The medic left the premises of Laurenz and Klement whisteling happily, he had finally made some progress beating the basics of double entry bookkeeping into the thick heads of the traders calculators. As his instructor had said so long ago: There are no mediocre students of this. Either you understand it totally or not at all, there is no middle ground.

It seemed like at least some of them had seen the light, he had left them with some "homework" and was hopeful the results in the morning would not disappoint too much.  
>He maneuvered himself along the ending roads of the imperial capital, looking into some windows here or at a market stall there to have some idea about the upcoming shopping spree when he first saw a figure clad in a grey robe who had covered his (?) face well and whom he remembered seeing before.<p>

Walking briskly along to his hotel he tried to decide on a course of action. Stopping at random places along the way both ascertained that he was indeed followed and that there was only one "shadow" along for the ride.  
>That his amateur hour efforts were not worth much never occurred to Ralf, that he should not involve the authorities was clearer.<p>

He ducked into a dimly lit back way which served the "servants entries" of the town houses, crouching himself between some of the waste barrels that "graced" that path.  
>He did not have to wait long for the robed figure to walk past him, looking around all the time. He waited for the robe to come back even more quickly before he rose behind the back. Deciding on a civil approach he waited before 4 meters separated them before announcing himself:<br>"Good evening minher. You seem to be looking for me-may I inquire for the reason?" The startled grasp from the robed figure and the fact that she did not approach him right away made him keep the pepper spray and extensible stick in his coat pockets-but still at hand.  
>What he saw when the robed figure lifted the cowl made him forget about them anyway.<p>

**Friedrichshafen, Lake Contance, same date **

Urs Zurmalmen still liked to walk with his wife along the lake front, they both thought it one of the more beautiful sights in Germany, could laugh at the statue of a courtesan that had been erected in the harbour (Imperia: She is really there) and love the sense of peace and security this environment showed.

There was one new thing that he was not so sure about: From the shore you could see two huge structures erected in the Lake. Large steel pontoons had been assembled in the lake and on them enormous sheds were erected from wood.  
>With all the wood from the Empire it became a much more important building material these days and it was impressive how big structures could be if they were made just right.<br>But even with these construction methods these sheds promised to be humungous: Nearly 300 meters long and more than 40 across and high they would need to be well ventilated when finished, otherwise they would produce their own rain inside.

The walls were now closed so workers already started with the painting. They were just working on the outlines of the script on them. When you looked hard enough you could already read:

"Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, Friedrichshafen" (Airship Yard Zeppelin, Friedrichshafen)

Well by the end of the day the reduced beauty of the waterline might be made up by the sight of the airships which would be build here. Urs tried to imagine standing below a 200+ meter airship and found he could not.  
>No matter, he would be there to see it. If the press were right actually pretty soon.<p>

**_Great_**_**Forest, Quarry, same date**_

Captain Brenneke was using his office also for meetings with his fellow Landwehr this would be bad practice, but as the job descriptions inside the quarry and the Landwehr ranks roughly coincided it was not as bad as it could be.

Noting down the last details they had agreed upon he restarted the meeting:

"Ok, now that we have the training schedule nailed down we need to see what can be done to improve our defense. I do not need to tell you that we are far from support if something happens and given our location it is rather a matter of "when" and not "if" so we should actually spend some sweat to save blood.

I am open to suggestions folks: Go ahead."

After the usual period where everybody discretely looked around to see who would start Captain Leibnitz harumped to get some attention. That was unusual as the Captain who lead and organized the imperial Landwehr soldiers was normally very reluctant to express himself. Seeing that he had the stage he started his spiel.  
>"We should build walls. We are the city soldiers and the footmen-we defend walls, this is what we do and what we are good in."<p>

"Nice idea Captain. We have the quarry, the living quarters, the workshops and the railroad depot to wall off-that will be what-about 5 kilometers of walls to build. If we start immediately we should be done in about 15 years."  
>As usual the comments by Uli Hermir were scathing - he was a misogynist by even misogynists standards for a dwarf, which probably explained why he had ended up working up for two groups of humans he both held in not-so-secret-contempt.<p>

Kurt Albers decided cut in before the light behind the "Wall" proposal totally went out. "Actually it is not that bad. We do not have to wall in the back faces of the quarry any more: They are more than 100 meters of sheer drop and their back sides is hard to climb: We can give that a pass. Same goes to the riverside: It is too fast flowing and deep to be fordable with ease. It we guard the bridge and prepare demolitions we are scot free on that side.  
>What we have actually to wall in is the front towards the rail line, which is about 1 Kilometer-bad enough as it is, but much less already. There is a depression to the east side which we can flood from the river with just a small channel-that should cover a lot of that real estate. There are about 500 meters remaining.<p>

Of course we can not build beautiful city walls, but we can move all the rejected material from the Quarry there and dump all new material we cannot use otherwise there instead of the usual places.  
>If we cover that with some of the soil we are removing anyway we start getting walls mostly by using the heavy equipment we have here.<br>During the preparations for blasting this equipment is idle for extended periods of time-here we can make use of it without slowing our main works.

We have made a proposal here - Klaus, hold up that paper please. Everybody looked at the plan which showed the side view of something like a cross of a seawall with sloped sides and a city wall. The 2nd picture showed the line their proposed defensive line was to take – it looked like a segment cut from a vicious shuriken.

"Now that will just work so well. The enemy can run up these slopes nearly as well as over open land and why make the wall any longer than you have to..."

"Lieutenant Hermir, if you could be so nice as to let the Captain finish, thank you." The flat monotone used by Captain Brenneke instead of his normal jovial tones stopped even the dwarf who was about to go on longer on the mental abilities of the humans.

"Actually the slope of the wall is too steep for easy scaling and we plan a palisade on top. If we can get our hands on a bit of NATO S-Wire climbing these walls will be quite difficult.  
>We copied the layout of the wall from a guy called Vauban and this layout is well tried in battle."<p>

"Hmmm, seems doable at first glance. Well you know the punishment for good work: More of it. Until the meeting next week present a detailed proposal what you need to make it happen"

"Can do, sir!"

"I like to hear that."

"Anything else"...

_**Kraus-Maffei-Wegmann HQ, Munich, Germany**_

"Great, the Bundeswehr decided to order a batch of 20 Leo A8 above those we made by rebuilding the cached ones!"

"Only 20?"

"Well, what is this with only twenty? We all know that the A8 is only a stopgap, wellmade, but nothing more. Our future lies in the coming generation of fighting vehicles. The Weltensprung forces us to develop wholly new design philosophies..."  
>"And with that new vehicles!"<p>

"Quite right! New infantry carriers, new tanks, new wheeled tanks, new howitzers... a whole store of new stuff... we will build."

"What about our competititors?"

"The by far biggest challenge will be getting the contract for the wheeled tank for the recon forces. Beside us, Daimler, Porsche and MAN are constructing prototypes."

"What´s up with Porsche these days? Isn´t that the second tank they compete for?"

"Actually it´s the third. They also have a design for a new howitzer. And I think I know why they are this keen. If they can rope in at least one of the contracts, there is a high possibility that Porsche can stay fully independent, instead of becoming part of Volkswagen."

"Less talk about our competititors´problems, more about our problems. Dr. Wagner, Sigrid, what is your estimation about the chances they will beat our designs?"

"At the moment, with all firms fielding first prototypes it is difficult to conclude anything." The doctor lifted her hand in a stop gesture to let her end her speech first. "Nevertheless, some desgin specifications cannot be hidden even now.  
>From what we could compare already, I have few doubts that we will get the contract for the next tracked IFV. The other corporations simply show the lack of experience in that segment. On the other hand, I am rather sure that without significant improvements, we will not get the wheeled tank contract. Both Daimler and Porsche have sent a very good design into the ring.<br>On the plus again, we have few competition in our bid for the Gepard 2 Flakpanzer. For the Kampfpanzer contract, the Leo 3 or whatever it will be called in the end, it is too early to say something definite, but the only design even halfway a threat is the Porsche one. Mainly because they have a totally different design focus than we made. It will depend on what the ministry and the army prefer."

**Altdorf****, same date**

The pushed back cowl revealed the face of a grey haired woman to Ralf Winkler that was full of fine lines and wrinkles. 20 years ago she must have been a remarkable beauty and even now she would be sure to turn a head or two, but that was not what drew the medics attention.  
>Around her neck she wore a sort chain holding an amulet very similar to the one he hid under his shirt, glowing slightly in the beginning darkness.<p>

He was still trying to make sense of what he saw when the woman adressed him in a voice obviously used to command. "This is unfortunate but obviosly unavoidable. I am Serana, a Healer in service to Shallya and you are somebody who has something that has been denied my order for hundreds of years."  
>Relieved that this was unlikely to be a mugging or worse Ralf composed himself enough ro find his words again. "Good evening Healer Serena. I am Ralf Winkler, a medic of the German Landwehr. You doubtless have an interesting tale to tell, but this is the wrong place for it. I spotted a tavern some way back-lets move there."<p>

Some time later they had found seats in the Tavern and were both nursing their thin ale while trying to take each others measure.

"Serena, I am very impressed that you can feel my amulet from some distance. But from there you get it wrong-I am neither a thief nor is this amulet useless to me. I have taken this amulet from the battlefield of Hag Graef, where it would have been unacessible to your order for all eternity and I have paid for this with blood, sweat and bad memories.  
>I am rather unwilling to part with it.<br>And it is NOT useless to me-it makes me a far better medic than I was ever before-it helps me saving lives. What can it do better in your hands than it could do in yours? Your order did not figure out to wash their hands in all the years of it`s exsistance-that does does not really impress me or shows that you will use it better than me."

The normally mild mannered medic was showing an aggressive face-having been accused of being a thief and being useless did really rub him the wrong way and his experiences in the last 15 months had put a hard edge on a personality where before there was none.

"If you believe this you are a liar or a fool as well. This an amulet of Shallya, even an outsider of our holy order should be able to see that. Shallya only works through woman-everybody knows that. To you this amulet is as dead as a stone and whatever improvement you feel is a figment of your imagination!"  
>"Lady, this conversation starts to loose it`s point and my interest. If you do not believe me in any way we can part our ways."<br>"If your amulet would do anything for you it would shine with Shallyas light like mine-yours will be dead as a coin. So show me and then it will be clear for even one as thick as you."

The medic looked around if they still were unobserved enough as he was selfconcious about the artefact, he still even had not told his wife about it apart from that he had taken it on the battlefield.  
>Turning back he pulled it out under his shirt. It`s slight glow was mirrored in two big round eyes set in a face which showed a worldview on the edge of breaking down.<br>"That...that is impossible, utterly impossible. This must be a fake, it must be...". Her obvious distress finally touched something in the medic which should have worked before.

"Sorry, Healer Serena, what we are doing here is unbecoming of two healers, even if we are from different worlds-literally. We started off badly, lets do that again.  
>I am Ralf Winkler, medic in service to the German gouvernment. Kindly help me to understand what I have found here and we can talk about it`s final disposition."<p>

Pulling herself together with obvious effort the Priestress found the ability to answer again: "Minher Winkler, there is something in what you say. I have to discuss this with my Order and we have to meet again. Where and when might that be possible?"

**Great Forrest, Castle Wolfenfels, Great Hall, same night**

"Interesting knife that you have there, can I have a look?"  
>"Certainly!"<br>Lt. Hermann handled over his personal dinner knife to Hauptmann Hemmler of the Reiksguard "I have seen such a pattern before, on swords from Araby, but it seems very rare, they keep these blades much to themselves."  
>"Ah, I understand. It is a damask blade, a friend of mine makes them."<br>"How, does he know the secret?"  
>"Not much secret about them, I helped with making the one of the bars from which this one was forged. You take many layers of soft and hard iron- in this case 37 of them-and layer them over each other. Weld them together into one bar and then twist them over the forge, hammering them flat.<br>When you are done apply some acid, this shows the lines between the steel layers. The blade is them both flexible enough not to break and hard enough to hold an edge. The pattern is very nice and individual for every blade."

"Now, that is good to know. We achieve a similar thing with our swords by welding a hard edge to a softer core, but this is potentially better, especially for a knife. Well we are about to tell secrets, care you tell me what horrible thing you did to get a posting holding the way in the middle of nowhere?"

Thankfully the next course of the dinner arrived, so Lt. Hermann could take his knife back from his table partner, cutting off a serious piece of sausage for him and Hemmler, careful to touch the food only with his right hand.  
>He placed the sausage on the bread in front of himself-it protected the food from the table-while thinking how to react. A tactical dose of the truth might serve.<p>

"I was send out to rescue some important people, but when I arrived they were already killed by the beastman"  
>"Ah, you have bad luck then, I had a case of bad judgment in the choice of a companion for the night."<br>"Ups, was she worth it?"  
>"Yep!"<br>"Well when we are still talking about secrets, can you tell me a little bit about our companions in misery here?"

The Hauptmann gave him a sideways look, then shrugged his broad shoulders before settling down.  
>"Ah what the Hell, you`ll hear sooner or later...<br>About me an my men, you know-we are the Reiksguard detachment that is tasked with keeping the ways open. Most are like me, no connections, no big family, a little bit of bad luck, but here we are.  
>The Baron you have met-big guy, quite some fighter in his day I hear. But now he is on the wrong side of 50 and his wife died two years ago, that has taken the starch right out of him. Still-do not get on his bad side, he can be worse than an enraged boar.<br>Most of his sons died young and the only survivor went to the Pistolcorps. The hotheads in his unit should have remembered they are to distract the enemy, not to do frontal assaults-they did not and paid.

Now the heir is Ermine, his sucessor until they find her a husband. Here, out in the Boondocks this is not easy. Easy on the eyes, isn`t she, but is said to have quite a temper. And what makes the locals nervous: She likes to read...

Wolfgang over there, he is the Seneshall. He is also a son of the Baron, but born on the wrong side of the sheets. He would make a good heir, shrewd, not afraid of anything, can talk to people, but choose the wrong mother.  
>Sometimes a little frustrated by that I take it - a bit of a temper as well, you know?<p>

The guy with the paunch and the hairdo of a bear-that is Meister Hark, Member of the Jade order when he is sober enough to remember it. Not a bad sort, we did not have a bad harvest in living memory.

Then we have...

By that time more ale arrived, more meat to be put on the bread and more information to be digested. Hermann was happy that he did not stagger too much when everybody parted more or less happily to their quarters, bemusedly looking that the servants lifted one end of the table until the leftovers of the feast dropped to the floor for the hounds.

**Plains near the cathayian border, Far East, 25. Nachhex**

"Alai, I admit, going with the Khan´s horde was magnificent for your talent as a storyteller, but even I can see where you have chosen to exeggerate. Such lands would be close in beauty to the everlasting Plain of Winds, something which cannot be found among the lands of the Longnoses."

"Father, I, ..."

"Khan Kirel, your son does not play you for a fool. Some lands of the longnoses are changing and it is because of that new land -Germany- close to the realm which calls itself the Empire. I, we all saw things we never thought possible. Chariots running without horses, their capital tent thorp stretches out half a day travel!"

"Oh Khan of Khans, we should travel there and take what we need, if this all is correct!"

"Kirel, you are right and wrong. I talked with the Khan of the new Longnoses..."

"Bah, talking! You know as well as I do, that the Longnoses hate hordes like mine. They call us tainted! They stand against the true gods!"

"That may be so, but the new land is different. I doubt that they like you any better than the Kislev or Empire Longnoses, but they are willing to trade with all of us."

"If they are so well off as my son and you say, then what can we give them?"

"They want informations about the lands we travel, they want our cheese and meat of our herds."

"Great, then some things we will never get. Remember the deal with the Cathayians 2 cycles back? Only good for them!"

The other Khan now had a big grin on his face.  
>"Kirel, I was doubtful as well, but look over there- the chests!"<p>

"What is so important about them?"

"We will use what is in it on our next _hunting_ foray into treacherous Cathay. Other nations as well. They call it _Arkebuse_."

**Darkmoor** **City Hall****, Albion, 4. Pflugzeit**

"Tell me, Sire William, what has you made so unlike you in temperament?"

The five and a half foot tall Captain of the "Bird of Rain", the flagship of the small Albion fleet, stood a little taller.  
>"Sire Mar, when I was on my patrol route, the eternal fog took my ship. as always when such a thing happens to one of our ships, the holy mist tried to show Albion something. The <em>Bird<em> left the fog close to the continent. Neither my men nor I myself could believe the sight. We saw a ship, a ship more than ten times the size of the Hall of Mud!"

"Impossible! Not even the Arks of the Fey are of such dimensions!"

"I swear on the stone, that it was the case! Their heraldry was totally off and unknown to us. Their banner was parted into three stripes, one black, one red, one gold. It did not have any masts, but it sailed with steady speed. Our ship druid told me that the crew looks like us. Since the mist did not deposit us close to the ship, declaring it save, we kept our distance."

Sire William had the attention of every man and woman in the room. all listened closely to the tale of the normally stoic chief Captain of Albion.  
>"Did you, did you learn anything else? Is this ghost ship a danger to albion?"<p>

"It is not a ghost ship, as we feared in the beginning. Before the Fog took us back into our own waters, we met a reman Merchantman. They told us more, if not enough. The nation the monster ship belongs to is called Germany and it suddenly appeared not long ago beside the lands we know as Bretonnia and the Empire of Mankind."

"Did you learn anything more about them?"

"Yes, like the other lands beyond our borders, they live in the desert. The Remans were there , in Germany, once and told me it rained there only two times in two weeks. And when it rained, only for 3 hour glases in total."

"So another arid waste of land... I wonder what the fog thought when he created so much deserts. We are blessed and that must be the reason the fog protects us from the thirsty foreigners. anything else, old friend?"

"Yes, let me tell you all about..." 


End file.
